Post on 23-Aug-2020
ISSN: 2249-7196
IJMRR/ Jan 2015/ Volume 5/Issue 1/Article No-3/21-38
Kulbir Kaur Bhatti et al./ International Journal of Management Research & Review
*Corresponding Author www.ijmrr.com 21
HUMAN SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: THE CHANGED PERCEPTION
Hardeepika Singh Ahluwalia1, Kulbir Kaur Bhatti*
1, Harpreet Kaur
1, Farhat Fatima
1
1Asst. Prof, Periyar Management and Computer College, Jasola, New Delhi, India.
ABSTRACT
Ethical behaviour and Social responsibility has been the area of interest of the researchers for
a number of years. In this highly industrialized era, whenever we think of social
responsibility the first thing that comes to our mind is the CSR (Corporate Social
Responsibility). We, the society people, look for the big giants to come forward and
undertake activities beneficial for the society in general. It is generally assumed that it is the
responsibility of corporate only to undertake activities which are for the betterment and
upliftment of the backward areas and weaker sections of the society. The assumption is valid
enough in light of the fact that these corporate houses are big and capable enough to
undertake such activities and it is their moral responsibility as well. But we forgot the fact
that all the households are also earning their livelihood from society only, so they are equally
responsible for the well being and the betterment of the society and people. The present study
is thus focused on the exploration and the analyses of the socially responsible initiatives taken
by the households i.e. how socially responsible households are and what are the various ways
in which they are contributing to the upliftment of the society. The study attempts to figure
out which demographic class is contributing the most towards the betterment of the society
and the environment. Also, the study analyses the relation between policies adopted by the
government towards the society and implementation of same by the households i.e. how
effective is the implementation part of the government policies. The study is primary in
nature, and has been conducted using the questionnaires method, filled by carefully selected
households.
Keywords: corporate social responsibility, upliftment, society, environment, policies.
INTRODUCTION
We are now plunging at an accelerating rate into a range of alarming global problems,
especially the destruction of ecosystems, the increasing gap between rich and poor, resource
depletion, armed conflict, the breakdown of social cohesion and a falling quality of life.
Above all the taken for granted and almost never questioned supreme goal of consumer-
capitalist society is grossly unsustainable. That goal is to raise "living standards", production
and consumption and the GDP constantly and without any notion of a limit or a point at
which we will be rich enough.
Like companies have Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), mankind also has a social
responsibility, a Human Social Responsibility (HSR). The Qur’an which is the holy book of
the Muslims and one of the sources of guidance for life for the Muslims has many references
Kulbir Kaur Bhatti et al./ International Journal of Management Research & Review
Copyright © 2012 Published by IJMRR. All rights reserved 22
to the role of man on earth: as a mercy to mankind; to know each other; as a representative of
God on Earth. Man is created as a trustee and steward for earth. Hence, God is the real owner
and master of the earth and not human beings. We are only trustees and stewards. Hence our
relationship with the natural environment is based on care and responsibility. We have to
utilise and consume the earth’s resources for our benefit without extravagance or wastage.
Our relationships with each other is based on trust, equity and justice, since all of us have
been created with the same purpose. Hence there is a need for co-operation and support.
There can be no oppression or racial discrimination. Therefore as trustees, our HSR is to
bring about a balance between the rights of individuals and their duties and responsibilities
towards others. It is about developing an interdependent community for providing support
and help to those in need. It is not just the responsibility of government or those in powers
but of every individual to sacrifice their wealth and time for the benefit of the needy and the
development of the society.
Hence HSR is about improving human conditions: By infusing spirituality in our lives,
Looking at efforts to uproot all forms of wrong and injustice from society, Protecting human
dignity, Looking at freedom of belief, Respecting people, Having mercy and compassion,
Establishing justice, Establishing equality of status, rights and opportunities for all citizens,
Remembering our stewardship of the natural environment, Cooperation, Establishing moral
and family values back into society, Developing human potential, Hard work, Self discipline,
Social progress, Cleanliness and Social welfare, care and support. In order for this to happen
we must start with ourselves as the golden rule to social responsibility is “Do unto others as
you would have them do unto you”.
The present study is undertaken to understand the initiatives taken by common man towards
society, environment and policies adopted by the government towards society and
implementation of same by household.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The industry and economy are developed to satisfy the needs and material desires of people.
In addition to making high greenhouse gas emissions the responsibility of industry,
individuals and families should also be held responsible for the production of greenhouse gas
emissions. In this study, we applied the Delphi method, the analytical hierarchy process,
utility theory, and fuzzy logic theory to establish an energy conservation assessment model
for households. We also emphasize that subsidy policy makers should consider the social
responsibility of households and individuals, as well as sustainability of energy conservation
(Sung-Lin Hsueh, 2012).A sample consisting of 3 017 Korean household survey data is
employed in a simultaneous equation model that considers the feedback effects between total
waste generation and recycling to examine the impact of the price incentives that arise under
a unit pricing system on household waste generation and recycling in Korea. Data are
collected in December 1995, following the adoption by the Korean government of a bag-
based unit pricing system on household solid waste in 1995, and comprise quantities of non-
recyclables and recyclables in terms of number of bags per week and household
characteristics, including age, income, education level, residential location, and household
size. The results for the system of structural equations estimated by three stage least squares
Kulbir Kaur Bhatti et al./ International Journal of Management Research & Review
Copyright © 2012 Published by IJMRR. All rights reserved 23
show that, with the exception of the user fee which is insignificant, the variables included in
the total waste generation function have positive effects; specifically, households with higher
incomes, more members, and higher recycling rates tend to produce more garbage. (Hong,
1999). The monthly data from nine US communities, covering a period of at least one year
during the 1980s for each community, are pooled to construct a panel data set for the
estimation of the residential and commercial demand functions for solid waste collection
services. Five of the communities rely on user charges and have minimum service
requirements which, although differing across the communities, have the common purpose of
reducing the chance that individuals respond to a user fee by illegally discarding their waste.
The remaining four communities either have flat fees or finance their disposal services out of
property tax revenues. Furthermore, as many of the nine communities do not have separate
records on the quantity of commercial versus residential solid waste, the empirical model
consists of three different equations: one representing residential demand (using data from
four communities, only one of which with a user fee system), another representing
commercial demand (using data from one community), and a third representing the sum of
residential demand and commercial demand (using data from five communities). Of the
residential sector regresses considered in the analysis, average household income, mean
temperature, average precipitation, age distribution of the population as captured by the
proportion of the population aged between 18 and 49, and population density as a proxy for
urbanization are found to positively affect waste disposal. (Jenkins, 1993).The principal
components of the overall attitude towards pesticides and find three factors: necessity of
pesticide use (the “positive” attitude), safety of pesticide use (health and environmental
concerns), trust in food industry, and correlate these factors with demographic variables.
They find that women, younger adults and the well-educated are slightly more anti-pesticides
than their counterparts, that women and lower-income earners are more concerned about
safety and that respondents with higher education are more likely to see pesticide use as
necessary. (Dunlap and Beus,1992).The economic and social factors affecting the quantity
and composition of household solid wastes is provided, based on data from a stratified
random sample of 24 municipal waste collection areas in Indianapolis. For each area, the
quantities of eleven selected household solid waste components (e.g. clear glass, brown glass,
green glass, aluminium, other metals, textiles, newspaper, all other paper, plastics,
garbage/other) are obtained during July and August 1972 by aggregation of the wastes in the
various categories generated by 60 to 90 households without their knowledge of being
studied before or after the project. Additional data on the variables included in the analysis as
determinants of waste (e.g.household income based on house and property values, household
size, percentage of people between 18 and 61 years old) come from the 1970 census. Each of
the eleven equations estimated but the brown glass equation, which is dropped from
consideration, is found to be statistically significant. Household income has a positive effect
on green glass, aluminum, newspaper, and total garbage, but a negative effect on textiles,
plastics, grass, and garbage/other, which includes food wastes, dirt, ashes, ceramics, and
miscellaneous items not suitable for any other category. The positive effect on newspaper
could be attributed to the fact that higher-income households tend to purchase more
newspapers and have thus larger quantities of newsprint that could be potentially recycled;
the negative effect on textiles could be explained by the fact that higher-income households
Kulbir Kaur Bhatti et al./ International Journal of Management Research & Review
Copyright © 2012 Published by IJMRR. All rights reserved 24
tend to dispose of clothing through charitable institutions; the negative impact on
garbage/other may be the result of fewer meals being consumed at home as higher income
households tend to eat away from home more often than lower-income households.
Household size has a consistently positive effect on every waste component but newspaper
and grass. The percentage of people in the 18 to 61 age group has also a consistently positive
effect on every waste component but newspaper, textiles, grass, and garbage/other; hence,
there is a tendency for households in the middle of their life cycle to produce more
garbage.(Richardson and Havlicek, 1978).
OBJECTIVES
The primary objectives of undertaking research are as follows:
• To analyse the relation between policies adopted by the government towards society
and implementation of same by households.
• To understand the initiatives taken by a common man towards society.
HYPOTHESIS
H0: There is no significant relationship between announcement of policies and
implementation of same.
H1: There is a significant relationship between announcement of policies and implementation
of same
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research is the systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to
establish facts and reach new conclusions.
TYPE OF RESEARCH
Research design is a comprehensive plan of the sequence of operations that a researcher
intends to carry out to achieve the objectives of a research study.
The kind of research design used is Descriptive research. It can be applied to a given topic
and describes the data and characteristics of the topic being studied.
DATA COLLECTION
The analysis has been done by using primary data. Primary data is the data that is collected
from first-hand experience. In this research it is collected through questionnaires.
SAMPLE SIZE
The sample size is an important feature of any empirical study in which the goal is to
make inferences about a population from a sample. The sample size used in a study is
determined based on the expense of data collection, and the need to have sufficient statistical
power.
In the research, the sample size is 91.
SAMPLING TECHNIQUE
The sampling technique used in research is convenience sampling.
Kulbir Kaur Bhatti et al./ International Journal of Management Research & Review
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DATA ANALYSIS
• Data analysis is done on the basis of information available from above mentioned sources
on an excel sheet.
• Analysis is done by using bar graphs, pie-charts and tables.
• The mean and standard deviation is being calculated.
• The chi square and hypothesis testing is done.
HYPOTHESIS TESTING
� Ban on loud music after 10 pm
• H₀ : There is no significant relationship between announcement of government policy with
respect to ban on loud music after 10 PM and Implementation by people.
� Government policy: Ban on usage on Plastic bags
• Ho: There is no significant relationship between announcements of government policies
with respect to usage of plastic bag and implementation of same by people
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Ethics
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that involves
systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct. The term
comes from the Greek word ethos, which means "character". Ethics is a complement
to Aesthetics in the philosophy field of Axiology. In philosophy, ethics studies the moral
behaviour in humans, and how one should act.
Ethics defines the elements essential to human well-being and proposes principles to be used
as guidelines for generating an ethical culture. Ethics also refers to the specific values,
standards, rules, and agreements people adopt for conducting their lives.
Ethics, most broadly, is the study of human behaviour and its consequences in the light of
what is ideally possible. For example, ethicists might study a society's mores or morals to
determine what effect they would have on humankind if they were used as universal
standards.
Ethics are not merely social conventions, like table manners. Ethics define the social
conditions necessary for human beings to thrive. How do we know what is ethical? Ethical
wisdom is the product of a long history of human struggle. By trial and error societies
discover how to create mutually enhancing relationships. Yet ethics also come from the
reality-producing function of the mind.
In addition to being propelled by events of the past, human beings are simultaneously drawn
forward by their view of the possibilities of the future. When people act "as if" something can
happen, they can behave so as make it a self-fulfilling prophecy. The challenge is to
understand what conditions lead to human well-being, to envision an ideal ethical culture,
and then derive principles that would create a good life.
What does it mean to act ethically? Ethical Culture proposes that the state of spiritual-ethical
harmony would be created whenever people live by these three guidelines taken together:
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• Act as a member of an ideal ethical culture with a sense of interdependence with
humanity and nature.
• Act so as to achieve your own full and unique potential.
• Act so as to elicit the best and most distinctive qualities in others and thereby in oneself.
Environmental Ethics
Environmental ethics is a branch of environmental philosophy that studies the ethical
relationship between human beings and the environment Environmental ethics believes in the
ethical relationship between human beings and the natural environment. Human beings are a
part of the society and so are the other living beings. When we talk about the philosophical
principle that guides our life, we often ignore the fact that even plants and animals are a part
of our lives. They are an integral part of the environment and hence have a right to be
considered a part of the human life. On these lines, it is clear that they should also be
associated with our guiding principles as well as our moral and ethical values.
We are cutting down forests for making our homes. We are continuing with an excessive
consumption of natural resources. Their excessive use is resulting in their depletion, risking
the life of our future generations. Is this ethical? This is the issue environmental ethics takes
up. Scientists like Rachel Carson and environmentalists who led philosophers to consider the
philosophical aspect of environmental problems, pioneered in the development of
environmental ethics as a branch of environmental philosophy.
Most of the human activities lead to environmental pollution. The overly increasing human
population is increasing the human demand for resources like food and shelter. As the
population is exceeding the carrying capacity of our planet, natural environment are being
used for human habitation.
Thus human beings are disturbing the balance in the nature. The harm we, as human beings,
are causing to the nature, is coming back to us by resulting in a polluted environment. The
depletion of natural resources is endangering our future generations. The imbalance in nature
that we have caused is going to disrupt our life as well. But environmental ethics brings out
the fact that all the life forms on Earth have the right to live. By destroying the nature, we are
depriving these life forms of their right to live. We are going against the true ethical and
moral values by disturbing the balance in nature. We are being unethical in treating the plant
and animal life forms, which coexist in society.
Human beings have certain duties towards their fellow beings. On similar lines, we have a set
of duties towards our environment. Environmental ethics says that we should base our
behaviour on a set of ethical values that guide our approach towards the other living beings in
nature. Environmental ethics is about including the rights of non-human animals in our
ethical and moral values. Even if the human race is considered the primary concern of
society, animals and plants are in no way less important. They have a right to get their fair
share of existence.
We, the human beings, along with the other forms of life make up our society. We all are a
part of the food chain and thus closely associated with each other. We, together form our
Kulbir Kaur Bhatti et al./ International Journal of Management Research & Review
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environment. The conservation of natural resources is not only the need of the day but also
our prime duty.
The Need for Ethics
Most people recognize that some agreed-upon guidelines or general rules should exist
between individuals when they interact with one another because if they did not, nothing in
our lives would be predictable or safe. In other words, people need to know that besides
actual laws, there are some basic, common ethics or principles of what is right and what is
wrong that everyone agrees upon and usually follows or lives by. Ethics is sometimes called
moral philosophy because it is concerned with what is morally good and bad or what is right
and wrong. As a specialized part of ethics, environmental ethics is concerned with the
morality (right and wrong) of human actions as they affect the environment or the natural
world we live in.
Global Environmental Problems
As a branch of philosophy, environmental ethics is a fairly recent development, having
become a body of organized knowledge only in the last decades of the twentieth century. It
came about as a necessary response to a growing number of very obvious threats to the
physical condition of the world in which we live. The list of some of these global
environmental problems is a long and familiar one, and many of them came about because of
the massive increase in the growth of the human population worldwide. As populations
continue to soar, the various problems caused by too many people naturally increase in both
their number and seriousness. It is predicted that the 2000 world population of six billion
people will rise by another one billion people within ten years. To the many problems this
causes, such as increased pollution of the air, water, and soil, is also added the depletion of
these and other important natural resources.
Understanding ISR-Individual Social Responsibility
CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) has been the buzz for a while. Several attempts have
been made to define, practice and document CSR. But increasingly and from diverse and
independent pockets in the world people are talking about a different and more basic social
responsibility. ISR-Individual Social Responsibility has all the takings of being a high impact
change maker. This article tries to build understanding on the subject by studying these
various points of view.
ISR
Individual Social Responsibility (ISR) is about an individual becoming responsible in his/her
actions that have effect on communities outside his/her immediate circle; the immediate
circle being family and friends. There can be an argument about also including family and
friends, but it would be rather pertinent to include them as part of Individual Personal
Responsibility.
Workshop for Civic Initiatives Foundation (WCIF), Bulgaria, describes ISR in its position
statement on Social Responsibility as, "The individual social responsibility includes the
engagement of each person towards the community where he lives, which can be expressed
as an interest towards what’s happening in the community, as well as in the active
Kulbir Kaur Bhatti et al./ International Journal of Management Research & Review
Copyright © 2012 Published by IJMRR. All rights reserved 28
participation in the solving of some of the local problems. Under community we understand
the village, the small town or the residential complex in the big city, where lives every one of
us. Each community lives its own life that undergoes a process of development all the time.
And every one of us could take part in that development in different ways, for example by
taking part in cleaning of the street on which he lives, by taking part in organization of an
event, connected with the history of the town or the village or by rendering social services to
children without parents or elderly people. The individual social responsibility also could be
expressed in making donations for significant for the society causes – social, cultural or
ecological. There are many ways of donating, as for example donating of goods or donating
money through a bank account or online".
ISR vis-à-vis CSR
1. ISR is at the roots of CSR, because a corporate comprises of individuals and hence
determines the social responsibility culture it follows.
2. As CSR is being increasingly viewed as a tool to push wares a greater need for ISR is
expected. The example of www.kiva.org in giving people the power to empower is a big
indicator of the shift.
3. If ISR becomes way of life CSR may be an automatic end result.
4. “The social responsibility of business is to make a profit,” famously said Milton Friedman,
the Nobel Prize winner. He explained that in making a profit a company creates thousands of
jobs, both directly and indirectly through suppliers, distributors and retailers. It imparts
valuable skills to its employees. It pays crores in taxes. It improves the lives of millions of
satisfied customers with its products and services. This is an enormous service to society.
Companies should focus single-mindedly on their competence, providing goods and services
better than their competitors, and not get distracted by extraneous activity. A company’s
social responsibility is to make profits legally, not to harm nature, and uphold the highest
standards of governance.
It is then left for the promoters of the corporations to practice ISR from the profits received
above to really answer Social Responsibility.
Bystander Intervention
The bystander effect or Genovese syndrome is a social psychological phenomenon that refers
to cases where individuals do not offer any means of help in an emergency situation to the
victim when other people are present. The probability of help has often appeared to be
inversely related to the number of bystanders; in other words, the greater the number of
bystanders, the less likely it is that any one of them will help. The mere presence of other
bystanders greatly decreases intervention. In general, this is believed to happen because as
the number of bystanders increases, any given bystander is less likely to notice the situation,
interpret the incident as a problem, and less likely to assume responsibility for taking action.
The same concept goes true in the case of responsibility towards environment as well. A
person will act in an environmentally responsible and sustainable way unless:
1) There is a lack of AWARENESS (of the current state of the environment).
Kulbir Kaur Bhatti et al./ International Journal of Management Research & Review
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2) There is a lack of SKILLS (for acting in an environmentally-responsible way).
3) There are stronger MOTIVATIONS for acting in no sustainable ways).
4) Outside forces BLOCK your attempts at sustainable and environmentally-responsible
actions.
Government Regulations
The Plastic Manufacture, Sale and Usage Rules, 1999, as amended in 2003 under the
Environment (Protection) Act of 1986, regulate plastic bag use in India. The Rules prohibit
the manufacture, stocking, distribution, or sale of carry bags made of virgin or recycled
plastic less than 20 x 30 centimetres in size and 20 microns in thickness. The rules also
disallow the use of recycled plastic bags and containers for storing, carrying, dispensing or
packaging of food items. Further, the Rules require units manufacturing plastic bags to
register with the respective State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) or Pollution Control
Committee (PCC) prior to the commencement of production.
The Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011, which would replace the earlier
Recycled Plastics Manufacture and Usage Rules, 2003, is the latest drive by the Government
of India to limit plastic waste in the country. The new rules have raised the minimum
thickness of plastic bags to 40 microns and require recycled carry bags made from
compostable plastics to conform to specific BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards). Importantly,
the Rules ban the use of plastic sachets for storing, packing or selling gutkha (a crushed
preparation of betel nut with tobacco), tobacco and pan masala (betel nuts).
One of the major provisions under the new Rules is the explicit recognition of the role played
by waste pickers. The new rules require the municipal authority too constructively engage
with waste pickers, agencies, or groups working in waste management. Another important
policy recommendation is that no plastic carry bags be made available free of cost to
consumers and that the municipal authority be given the power to determine the minimum
price for plastic bags. However, the explicit pricing rule is diluted in effect because it does
not clearly specify the modalities for the execution of the policy.
Some states have introduced incremental regulations toward the control of plastic bags.
Himachal Pradesh, for example, banned bags made of non-biodegradable material of
thickness less than 70 microns and size less than 18 X 12 inches in 2003. Violations carry
fines of up to INR 100,000 or seven years in jail. Similarly, the states of Maharashtra, Punjab,
Kerala, Meghalaya and Goa have also prescribed norms regarding the thickness of plastic
bags varying between 30 and 50 microns. The Government of West Bengal has banned the
manufacture, use, storage and sale of plastic bags of thickness below 40 microns and size
lower than 16 X 12 inches. The governments of Gujarat, Orissa and Goa have banned the use
of plastic bags in certain religious and tourist areas such as Ambaji, Dakor and Somnath in
Gujarat, the municipal area of Puri and Konark in Orissa, and the beaches in Goa.
More recently, Chandigarh in 2008, Rajasthan in 2010 and Haryana in 2011 have imposed a
complete ban on plastic bag use. Faced with a ban, shops in these states have responded
mainly in two ways. The sellers of high-value goods such as garments and electronics have
started providing their customers fiber-cloth bags free of charge. Those selling lower value
Kulbir Kaur Bhatti et al./ International Journal of Management Research & Review
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goods such as grocery stores have started a deposit-refund system where customers deposit
some amount for a cloth bag, which is refunded when they return the cloth bag. Some shops
are also offering 1% cash subsidies (on the value of purchases) for consumers using their own
bags.
The Delhi High Court in August 2008 directed the state to raise the minimum thickness of
plastic carrier bags from 20 to 40 microns. Somewhat surprisingly, the Delhi State
government not only passed legislation to this effect fairly quickly but, in January 2009,
ordered a complete ban on the use of all plastic bags within market areas. De jure, anyone
found guilty of breaking the ban faces a maximum penalty of one hundred thousand rupees,
or five years’ imprisonment, or both.
DATA ANALYSIS
1. Do You Turn Lights Off When Not Using Them
Turning off the lights when not in use is an ethical responsibility of households. In this way,
they will not only save the energy for future use but it will reduce the expenses on their part
since they will not be wasting electricity. When the question regarding turning off lights was
asked, following responses were recorded.
Around 34% people say that they turn off lights of their in order to protect the environment. It
was followed by 26% of people saying that they do so because they have a habit of following
such a practice. 20% people say that they find this as their moral obligation and rest 20% in
order to save their money switch off their lights.
010203040
Habit To
protect
environ
ment
Moral
Obligatio
n
To save
money
Percentage 26 34 20 20
percentage
2. Buying Of Energy Efficient Bulbs
CFLs OR Energy efficient bulbs use one-fifth to one-third the electric power, and last eight to
fifteen times longer. A CFL has a higher purchase price than an incandescent lamp, but can
save over five times its purchase price in electricity costs over the lamp's lifetime.
The responses for the above question are as follows:
44% of the people say that they use energy efficient bulbs in order to save money, followed
by 37% saying that they do so in order to protect environment. 13% say that they are in a
Kulbir Kaur Bhatti et al./ International Journal of Management Research & Review
Copyright © 2012 Published by IJMRR. All rights reserved 31
habit of using energy efficient bulbs and 6% feel it as their moral obligation to use energy
efficient bulbs.
0
10
20
30
40
50
To save
money
To protect
environment
Habit Moral
obligation
%
3. Bystander Intervention
One repeated finding in research studies on helping is that a bystander is less likely to help if
there are other bystanders present. When other bystanders are present responsibility for
helping is diffused.Many factors influence people's willingness to help, including the
ambiguity of the situation, perceived cost, diffusion of responsibility, similarity, mood and
gender, attributions of the causes of need, and social norms.
To understand the bystander intervention, two options were given:
• To leave it as it is to be handled by the affected party
• To take an initiative and get the problem solved
Around 55% of the people say that they will take an initiative and get the problem solved
whereas 45% said that they will leave the problem as it is to be solved by the affected party.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
To leave it as it is To take initiative
Percent…
Kulbir Kaur Bhatti et al./ International Journal of Management Research & Review
Copyright © 2012 Published by IJMRR. All rights reserved 32
4. Hypothesis Testing: Ban on loud music after 10 pm
H₀: There is no significant relationship between announcement of government policy with
respect to ban on loud music after 10 PM and Implementation by people.
H₁: There is significant relationship between announcement of government policy with
respect to ban on loud music after 10 PM and implementation by people.
In order to analyze the relationship two questions have been analyzed which include:
• Are you aware that the playing of loud music after 10 PM is a punishable offence
according to Indian law
• Do you play loud music in spite of being aware about the law
For the former question out of aggregate of 91 people 81 people are aware that government
has come up with a policy to ban the loud music after 10 PM while 10 people are unaware
about any such policy. While in the latter question it could be interpreted that 30 people being
aware about the government policy do not play loud music after 10 PM. But majority of the
respondents i.e., approximately 67% of the people still play loud music after 10 PM. The
62% of the people who play loud music said that they do so due to lack of surveillance by the
government.
Do you still play loud music in
spite being aware about the law
Are you aware about the ban of loud music
after 10 PM by government
Yes No
Yes 27 53
No 3 8
Applying Chi-square to the above distribution to check the independence of events, we will
be using the following formula to find the calculated chi-square value.
Where,
Oi,j is the observed values; Ei,j is the expected values
(r-1)(c-1) is the degrees of freedom
For calculating expected values, following formula is used:
Ei,j = (Ri * Ci)/ n
Where ‘n’ is the total number of observations.
Applying the above formula to the given data, following table is obtained.
Observed Expected (O-E)
2 (O-E)
2/E
E(1,1) 27 26.37 0.3969 0.0151
E(1,2) 53 53.63 0.3969 0.0074
E(2,1) 3 3.63 0.3969 0.1093
E(2,2) 8 7.37 0.3969 0.0539
Total
0.1857
Kulbir Kaur Bhatti et al./ International Journal of Management Research & Review
Copyright © 2012 Published by IJMRR. All rights reserved 33
The calculated value of X2
comes out to be 0.1857. The critical value of X2 at 1 degree of
freedom comes out to be 3.841. Since the critical value of X2 is more than the calculated
value, therefore, null hypothesis is not rejected. Therefore, it is implied that there is no
significant relationship between announcement of government policy with respect to ban on
loud music after 10 PM and Implementation by people.
Government policy: Ban on usage on Plastic bags
Ho: There is no significant relationship between announcements of government policies with
respect to usage of plastic bag and implementation of same by people.
In order to analyze the relationship two questions have been analysed which include
• Are you aware that government has banned use of plastic bags
• Inspite of being aware do you still ask for plastic bags to escape from extra penny that is to
be paid for getting paper/ Jute bag.
For the former question out of aggregate of 91 people 82 people are aware that government
has come up with a policy to ban usage of plastic bag while 9 people are unaware about any
such policy. While in the latter question it could be interpreted that 9 people being aware of
government policy ask for plastic bag and 35 people ask for it sometimes; However 37
people do not ask for plastic bag.
Chi-square distribution
In order to check the variation between ‘Announcement’ and ‘implementation’ chi-square
has been used. Chi-square test can be used to test the independence of two variables each
having atleast two categories. Contingency tables are used to represent the data. Contingency
tables are cross- tabs with the cells corresponding to a cross classification of attributes or
events. A contingency table with 2 rows and 3 columns is represented in Table 1.
Table 1: Contingency table with 2 rows and 3 columns
Inspite of being aware do you still ask for
plastic bags to escape from extra penny
that is to be paid for getting paper bag
YES NO Sometimes Total
Are you aware
that government
has banned use of
plastic bags
YES 15 33 34 82
NO 3 4 2 9
Total 18 37 36 91
H₀ : There is no significant relationship between announcement of government policy with
respect to ban on usage of plastic bag and Implementation by people.
H₁ : There is significant relationship between announcement of government policy with
respect to ban on usage of plastic bag and implementation by people.
The expected frequencies corresponding to 2 rows and 3 columns in the contingency table
are:
Kulbir Kaur Bhatti et al./ International Journal of Management Research & Review
Copyright © 2012 Published by IJMRR. All rights reserved 34
Row, Column Expected frequencies
1,1 E11= 82×18/ 91= 16.219
1,2 E12=82× 37/ 91= 33.34
1,3 E13= 82× 36/91=32.439
2,1 E21= 18×9/91=1.7802
2,2 E22= 37× 9/91= 3.659
2,3 E23= 36×9/91= 3.56
The table of the observed and expected frequencies corresponding to 2 rows and 3 columns
and the computation of χ² is given in Table 2.
Table 2: Observed and expected frequencies corresponding to 2 rows and 3 columns and the
computation of χ²
Row, column Observed value Expected value (O-E)² (O-E)²/ E
1,1 15 16.219 1.4859 0.0916
1,2 33 33.34 0.1156 0.0035
1,3 34 32.439 2.4367 0.0751
2,1 3 1.7802 1.4879 0.8358
2,2 4 3.659 0.11628 0.0318
2,3 2 3.56 2.4336 0.6836
Total ∑= 1.7214
= 1.7214
Where,
Oi,j is the observed values; Ei,j is the expected values
(r-1)(c-1) is the degrees of freedom
For calculating expected values, following formula is used:
Ei,j = (Ri * Ci)/ n
The critical value of χ² at 5 percent level of significance with 2 degree of freedom is given by
5.991.
Since Sample value < Critical value = 1.7214 < 5.991
Thus null hypothesis is not rejected.
Ho: There is no significant relationship between announcement of government policies with
respect to usage of plastic bag and implementation of same by people.
Inference: Inspite of announcement of government on usage of plastic bag people are still
using plastic bags. Hence, Announcement and implementation of government policy are
independent of each other.
5. Understand initiative taken by common man towards society
The above stated objective have been analysed on the basis of questions mentioned in table
below. These questions have been analysed on the basis of five point likert scale. Value 5
Kulbir Kaur Bhatti et al./ International Journal of Management Research & Review
Copyright © 2012 Published by IJMRR. All rights reserved 35
have been assigned to strongly agree and 1 to strongly disagree. The data was analysed by
finding the average.
Strongly
agree Agree Neutral Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Reasons 5 4 3 2 1 Avg.
Do you think turning
off lights during earth
hour is helpful
39 38 10 3 1 25.6
You consider
contribution
(monetary/ Non-
monetary) towards
NGO, self help
groups and poor to be
your moral
responsibility
22 46 21 2 0 24.0
6
old age homes to
provide emotional
support
14 42 30 3 2 22.4
Does your budget
constraint you from
indulging into
charitable activities
11 30 25 16 9 19.4
Do you spare money
from your pocket
money for charity
10 38 30 10 3 21
You use CNG instead
of Petrol because
petrol is major source
of pollution
20 31 25 9 6 21.5
33
The above table shows that on an average 25.6 people take part in earth hour which calls for
turning off the lights for an hour in order to save electricity and to show that they care for the
society. On the other hand 24.06 and 22.4 people contribute to NGO and old age homes
respectively. The data showed more people in age group of 18-30.hence it could be inferred
that on an average 21 people spare money out of their pocket money or income for charitable
purpose.
6. Do you look for ISO/ISI certification while buying products
ISI mark is a certification mark for industrial products in India. The mark certifies that a
product conforms to the Indian Standard, mentioned as IS: xxxx on top of the mark,
developed by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the national standards body of India. The
ISI mark is by far the most recognized certification mark in the Indian subcontinent. The
name ISI is an abbreviation of Indian Standards Institute, the former name of the Bureau of
Indian Standards. The ISI mark is mandatory for certain products to be sold in India, like
Kulbir Kaur Bhatti et al./ International Journal of Management Research & Review
Copyright © 2012 Published by IJMRR. All rights reserved 36
many of the electrical appliances e.g. switches, electric motors, wiring cables, heaters,
kitchen appliances etc.
34% people look for ISO certification to protect environment while 23% look for such
certification due to moral obligation while 26% and 17% look for such certifications due to
habit and health respectively. The above figure shows that people are concerned about
environment and health.
Travel by public transport
The above diagram shows that 56% people make use of public transport to save money.
While just 20% do so to save environment.
FINDINGS
1. People are motivated towards saving environment by saving money/personal health and
not because of its importance. This can be seen when :
� 44% of people use power efficient bulbs to save energy.
� People try to escape to pay for a non plastic bag when buying goods.
� When they use public transport just to save money and not with the motive of saving
environment.
� The people check the ISO/ISI certification on various electrical products as they are
motivated to protect the environment, due to their habit as well as due to their concern about
their health.
2. Some people have a passive attitude towards the problem faced by others and think that
the problem is to be solved by the affected party.
3. There is only minority of people who doesn’t know about the announcement of
government policies with respect to the ban on loud music after 10 PM and the usage of
plastic bags.
Kulbir Kaur Bhatti et al./ International Journal of Management Research & Review
Copyright © 2012 Published by IJMRR. All rights reserved 37
4. Implementation of law is also not strict as people who are aware of law do not practice it.
Majority of respondents, i.e, approximately 67% do play loud music after 10 PM out of
which many do it out of lack of surveillance by the government.
5. Considering an average person, it shows that most of the respondents are self-oriented
and not ready to take initiative towards society. This can be proved as on an average 21
people spare money out of their pocket money or income for charity towards the
environment.
CONCLUSION
Environment awareness exists amongst people from elders, education, influence from the
peer group and the steps taken by government. People forget the importance of environment
ethics when doing daily routine tasks. Thus, innovative ideas should be used so that more and
more people can contribute to environment easily.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Environmental ethics should be followed as a moral obligation towards the society rather
than safeguarding the personal interests.
2. People should contribute more towards society specifically the environment by use of
CFLs or energy efficient bulbs.
3. More number of people should come forward to contribute towards society rather than
being a bystander.
4. Bystander interventions can be reduced by creating awareness and skills among people so
that they can act in an environmentally-responsible way.
5. We should try to divert people towards saving money and indirectly saving the
environment like in the Advertisements where a person saves money by saving on household
fuel to buy an expensive watch.
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Kulbir Kaur Bhatti et al./ International Journal of Management Research & Review
Copyright © 2012 Published by IJMRR. All rights reserved 38
[12] www.oecd.org/dataoecd/19/22/42183878
[13] www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/49155/1/346984866.pdf
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