From Environmental Awareness to Sustainable Action and Social Impact in the Age of AI: A Mixed-Methods Study in Abu Dhabi

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

World Journal of Science Technology and Sustainable Development

Publication Date

6-5-2026

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The study examines how environmental awareness relates to sustainable practices in Abu Dhabi and how age, income, and education shape this relationship. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The design adopted was a mixed-methods, consisting of a survey of 350 people, ten in-depth interviews and the combination of the two strands to increase validity and provide social insight. FINDINGS: The study showed high environmental awareness reflected in organic buying, water saving, reduced plastic use, and waste sorting, with weak links to demographics but a strong positive link between awareness and sustainable behaviour (B = 0.669, p = 0.001). PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The study contributes to the development of a social policy related to sustainable environmental development by developing behavioural programmes and interventions based on artificial intelligence (AI). ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The paper presents a new AI-powered-behavioural model and seals a significant knowledge gap in the region by empirically correlating environmental awareness with sustainable behaviour in the Arab Gulf.

ISSN

2042-5945

Publisher

World Association for Sustainable Development (WASD)

Volume

21

Issue

5

First Page

439

Last Page

456

Disciplines

Computer Sciences | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Keywords

Abu Dhabi, Artificial Intelligence, Environmental Awareness, Sustainability

Scopus ID

105041168327

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

no

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