Rezipientenanalyse einer Umweltschutzkampagne: Das Beispiel der „TU WAS“-Kampagne an der Universität Osnabrück

Recipients of an environmental protection campaign: An Analysis based on the “TU WAS“-Campaign at the University of Osnabrück

Environmental protection campaigns at universities aim to promote environmentally responsible behavior. The general efficacy of such campaigns has been the focus of current evaluation studies. The present study investigates the effectiveness of an environmental campaign at the University of Osnabrück and additionally offers primary information about demographic characteristics as well as contents and methods the participants remembered. Out of the 370 participants 76% were informed about the environmental campaign. Age, sex and function at the university (student or employee) did not influence the campaigns´ publicity. University members with high levels of self-reported environmentally responsible behavior were more frequently informed about the campaign´s contents. Publicity also varied across the faculties of the university. None of the topics with environment-related content were preferred by the participants. A variety of methods, particularly all of the participation actions were remembered. The results indicate that environmental campaigns in general are useful to introduce topics of ecological relevance to university members. Information and methods should be tailored to the needs of divergent subpopulations and there is no linear relationship between information reception and changes of behavior.