Development and Validation of a Green Education Scale for Chinese Universities

Grounded in the concept of sustainable development, the study aims to develop a green education scale for Chinese higher education. Faculty members are from eight Chinese universities participating in the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education. Drawing on a comprehensive literature review, the initial scale was constructed and refined through expert review and pilot testing. The final scale comprised 39 items across five dimensions: green/sustainable campus, communication and participation, green administration, teaching and learning, and green research. Data were collected from 454 faculty members. Correlation coefficients among the five dimensions ranged from .368 to .473. The square roots of the average variance extracted for each dimension exceeded the corresponding inter-construct correlations, indicating good discriminant validity. The scale demonstrated good reliability, with an overall Cronbach's alpha of .947 and dimension-level alphas ranging from .881 to .925, supporting its internal consistency and stability.