Abstract

Extended Abstract
Background and Purpose: Challenges and environmental threats such as air pollution, water, soil, extinction of biological species, etc., which have been caused by the economic growth of countries since the two industrial revolutions, have faced serious challenges to the survival of human society. Although environmental behavior has been one of the effective factors in preventing problems, so far environmental research has not paid enough attention to the complexities of people's behavior towards the environment, and theoretical frameworks in this regard have not reached a precise explanation. The present study is different from the research in this respect.
Materials and Methods: The present study looks for the factors affecting environmental behavior in the lived experience of environmental actors. This regard uses the qualitative method of grounded theory. This method aims to achieve a new view of the subject of research because it is important to study the depth of the phenomenon in a particular society. Knowing the depth of the phenomenon is more important than the scope of the field. Using this method allows the researcher not to rely on the framework of the previous theory and to understand this attitude is derived from real experiences in a particular situation. Accordingly, this research lacks theoretical literature, and researchers are trying to base their theory on this research. The statistical population of this study is the members of the "Association of Rescuers and Supporters of Doroud City". After informing in cyberspace to conduct research and announcing the readiness of 25 members to collect data, a semi-structured interview was conducted with them. In this study, two methods of purposeful sampling (selection from specific individuals or groups that are different from ordinary people in particular; here, environmental activism is considered) and theoretical sampling have been used. Data were analyzed using the proposed "Strauss and Corbin" method, which includes axial and selective open coding. From all the data obtained from the interview, first, the initial codes were obtained and then the comparison was started to determine the similarities and differences and the similar codes became a general and abstract category, and finally, the selective coding of several main categories was obtained.
Findings and Discussion: The results showed that the five main categories of "environmental socialization”, “environmental attitude", "structural policy", "cyberspace", and "economic problems" were indicative of the impact on the environmental behavior of actors and among all categories, "Environmental socialization" became the most important category.
Conclusion: The findings can be effective in encouraging or preventing positive environmental behavior in individuals. Also, paying attention to the discovered categories in the field of structural policies, as well as paying more attention to humanities research on environmental protection, will be effective and considered a positive step. Also, considering the influence of individuals, especially the leaders of thought and reference groups, through the media in cyberspace and the official media in the field of environmental protection, it was suggested to produce content in this field.