Leaders ’ ‘ Green ’ Posts
( Van Liere and Dunlap 1980 , 168 ). In particular , they recognized a correlation between the preference for environmental issues and age , sex , income , education , occupational prestige and residence of citizens participating in these surveys ( Van Liere and Dunlap 1980 ). A decade later , Jones and Dunlap ( 1992 ) emphasized that age had “ remained stable over time ” ( Jones and Dunlap 1992 , 29 ). More recently , studies by Elliott , Seldon , and Regens ( 1997 ), Konisky , Milyo , and Richardson ( 2008 ), and Franzen and Vogl ( 2013 ) identified age and gender as correlated to environmental salience .
When analyzing the sociodemographic variables , researchers found differences between age groups and cohorts ( Malkis and Grasmick 1977 ) and that age was negatively correlated to environmental preference meaning that young people were more keen to support the adoption of environmental protection measures than old people ( Arcury , Johnson and Scollay 1986 ; Buttel 1979 ; Carman 1998 ; Dunlap and Allen 1976 ; Egri and Herman 2000 ; Elliott , Seldon , and Regens 1997 ; Franzen and Vogl 2013 ; Jones and Dunlap 1992 ; Kanagy , Humphrey and Firebaugh 1994 ; Klineberg , McKeever , and Rothenbach 1998 ; Konisky , Milyo , and Richardson 2008 ; Mohai and Twight 1987 ; Van Liere and Dunlap 1980 ; Xiao and Dunlap 2007 ). Additionally , while a number of works found inconclusive results in the relationship between environmental preference and gender ( Blocker and Eckberg 1989 ; Klineberg , McKeever , and Rothebach 1998 ), the majority of studies pointed out that women were more supportive of environmental issues in comparison to men ( Bord and O ’ Connor 1997 ; Chen and Chai 2010 ; Davidson and Freudenburg 1996 ; Stern , Dietz and Kalog 1993 ; Elliott , Seldon , and Regens 1997 ; Fliegenschnee and Schelakovsky 1998 ; Franzen and Vogl 2013 ; Grossman and Potter 1977 ; Hamilton 1985 ; Hunter and Rinner 2004 ; Konisky , Milyo , and Richardson 2008 ; McCright 2010 ; Mohai 1992 ; Xiao and Dunlap 2007 ; Zelezny , Chua and Aldrich 2000 ). G
Considering the relevance that specific socio-demographic characteristics may play in influencing environmental salience , we hypothesize that :
H3 . Socio-demographic characteristics of political leaders influence environmental salience and particularly , ( a ) environmental information will be more often shared by young leaders , ( b ) environmental information will be more often shared by women leaders .
Party Orientation of a Leader
It is recognized that literature dealing with aspects of policy orientation in party competition is “ simply immense ” ( Laver and Hunt 1992 , 4 ). Some studies explored the salience of environmental issues in public opinion and political discourse ( Downs 1972 ; Dunlap 1989 ) while others analyzed how party affiliation influenced legislative choices in relation to environmental issues ( Calvert 1979 ; Dunlap and Allen 1976 ; Dunlap and Gale 1974 ; Kamieniecki 1995 ;
1998 ; Converse 1964 ; Elliott , Seldon , and Regens 1997 ; Franzen and Vogl 2013 ; Howel and Laska 1992 ; Jones and Dunlap 1992 ; Kanagy , Humphrey and Firebaugh 1994 ; Klineberg , McKeever and Rothenbach 1998 ; Van Liere and Dunlap 1980 ; Xiao and Dunlap 2007 ). Only Kollmuss and Agyeman ( 2002 ) found that individuals ’ level of education was not necessarily correlated to environmental issues ( Kollmuss and Agyeman 2010 ). Nevertheless , the 127 political leaders considered in our research have all graduated from college , therefore we assume a similar education level .
G
Only McEvoy ( 1972 ), and Passino and Lounsbury ( 1976 ) found men more supportive of environmental issues ( McEvoy 1972 ; Passino and Lounsbury 1976 ).
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