From passive cognition to active stewardship: Assessing environmental sustainability awareness, green self-efficacy, and eco-conscious lifestyle choices in higher education

The present research focuses on the perception of Environmental Sustainability Awareness (ESA), Green Self-Efficacy (GSE), and Eco-Conscious Lifestyle Choices (ECLC) among public university students. To conduct the current study, a cross-sectional quantitative survey methodology was used with the help of a multistage stratified sampling strategy in three faculties and six departments of the University of Sargodha, Pakistan. Data collection tools included a 45-item structured questionnaire, resulting in a final sample of 300 undergraduate and graduate students. The reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha (0.842 for ESA, 0.795 for GSE, and 0.811 for ECLC). These results show that students have elevated levels of environmental awareness concerning the influence of humans on climate change and acknowledge their moral and intergenerational responsibility for environmental protection. However, information seeking was moderate. Concerning green self-efficacy, students believe in their personal efficacy and interpersonal peer advocacy, but their self-efficacy was low in cases of obstacles in the form of financial problems and lack of infrastructure, such as choosing an environmentally friendly product with restricted finances and proper disposal of waste in inefficient recycling facilities. Consequently, the learners always practiced cheap and easy-to-manage conservation practices, including waste segregation and reuse, whereas practices that involve market infrastructure or financial expenditure, such as evaluating product sustainability and refusing to use plastic products, were lower. From this study, prominent levels of cognition alone do not motivate a full behavioral change; hence, universities and policymakers need to enhance green self-efficacy through a combination of environmental education and sustainability infrastructure on campus.