Attitudinal drivers of home bias in public preferences for transboundary nature protected areas

Abstract

We assess what drives the lower valuation of nature protection on the other side of the border in two European transboundary nature areas, the Białowieża Forest (Poland and Belarus), and Fulufjället (Norway and Sweden). Applying hybrid choice modelling, we account for people's attitudes when eliciting their preferences for extensions of transboundary nature protected areas. We examine the impact of attitudes on a so-called ‘home bias’ effect appearing in public preferences stated towards transboundary nature protected areas; that is the inclination towards preferring the domestic part. We find that concerning the intention of visiting the foreign part of the transboundary area, the appreciation of transboundary justice and altruism are the main systematic mitigators of home bias. Suspicious attitude towards the neighbouring country, the anticipation of unilateral foreign provision, and the manifestations of ‘patriotism’ apply as home bias drivers only to a limited degree. Facilitating visits to the foreign part by enhancing cross-border access can be expected to shift peoples' preferences towards transboundary co-operation.