Purpose, identity, and sustainability: The role of didactic environments in higher education

This study examines the relationship between religiosity/spirituality and political orientation in university students and transpersonal learning and sustainable behavior; it also investigates how contextual experiences such as service-learning, sustainability courses, volunteering, organizational membership, and access to nature condition this relationship. Data from a cross-sectional online survey (N=534) conducted in Lithuania in November 2025 were used to create purpose (items 25–30; α=0.82) and behavior (items 49–61; α=0.91) indices were created; gender and income were controlled; z-transformed results were modeled in multiple regressions with HC3 robust errors. Religiosity alone did not produce a consistent main effect; however, the religiosity × service-learning interaction increased sustainable behavior. Access to nature expanded the pathway to behavior among liberal and conservative students; in contrast, the Green-Eco × service-learning and Liberal × volunteering interactions were negative. Non-binary participants reported higher purpose and behavior, while the income effect was largely insignificant. Findings suggest that identity effects translate into action through context, and that designing reflective service-learning and campus nature access together in higher education can strengthen sustainable practices (limitations: unlikely sample, cross-sectional design, multiple tests).