The Applicability of Wildlife Value Orientations Scales to a Muslim Student Sample in Malaysia

This article addresses the applicability of quantitative wildlife value
orientation scales in Muslim students in Malaysia. As Malaysian culture
is deeply influenced by Islam ideology, this article presents a
case for addressing the cross-cultural applicability of the scales. The
current wildlife value orientation scales were reliable—all Cronbach’s
alphas ≥ .65—and had predictive validity—8 to 14% of variance of
acceptability of lethal control was explained. Yet, both reliability and
predictive validity were of lesser magnitude than figures in previous
Western studies. Especially the hunting beliefs scale did not reflect
basic thinking about wildlife in our sample, and our data suggest two
different hunting dimensions—consequences of hunting for wildlife
and human opportunities for hunting. For future cross-cultural comparisons
of wildlife value orientations, amendment of the scales to
better reflect salient beliefs in non-Western nations is recommended.