2014 Volume 54 Issue 2 Pages 219-230
Human-wildlife conflicts have become the common issues in agricultural communities and in Japanese mountain villages. Understanding not only the ecological aspects of wildlife, but also the social aspects of the problem is important to mitigate the issues. Social-psychology is an academic discipline which aims to understand and predict people’s attitudes and behaviors. We conducted a questionnaire survey at Myojin district of Nikko city and Fukahodo district of Kanuma city in Tochigi prefecture to test two theories: the Theory of Planned Behaviors (TPB) and the Wildlife Acceptance Capacity Model (WAC), as well as additional factors (perception of government performance, perception of district issues, socio-demographics, and experience of damage), to understand and predict residents’ attitudes and behaviors regarding wildlife issues. We found that subjective norm was the only factor of TPB that significantly explained residents’ behavioral intentions in both districts, while factors of WAC (risk perception and attitudes toward wildlife) significantly explained residents’ acceptance capacity toward wildlife in one district. Additional variables such as damage experience and age significantly explained people’s behavioral intentions and acceptance capacity toward wildlife, suggesting the importance of using not only factors of theories and models but also various other factors to make more accurate predictions. The characteristics of the region, and the specific residents, need to be reflected in outreach programs to be effective.
