**6. Conclusions**

This paper revealed a potential mechanism among PEB, environmental knowledge, environmental perception, and PMV in China. The main contribution of this paper is to construct the SEM including the four factors listed below, simultaneously, and to discuss the structural relationship among them. Meanwhile, the mediating and moderating model was used to discuss the potential mechanism of the generation of Chinese residents' PEB. Additionally, we discussed the heterogeneity of correlation coefficients between different environmental attributes, so as to enrich the research conclusions.

The important conclusions of this study can be summarized as follows: Firstly, individuals with higher environmental knowledge always show higher passion to PEB. Similar conclusions have been found in the United States, India, New Zealand, and other countries. It indicates that improving environmental knowledge is a feasible way to promote Chinese residents' PEB. Secondly, environmental perception plays a partially mediating role in the above relationship, but it is not always significant. More specifically, daily environmental perception indirectly impacts the generation of public PEB, whereas ecological environmental perception significantly mediates the formation of private PEB. These conclusions are important, and have not been revealed in previous studies. Thirdly, PMV moderated the formation of PEB systematically. Furthermore, the moderating effect remains positive on each related path. This conclusion indicates that the promotion of PMV is of vital necessity to stimulate Chinese residents' PEB. It is also consistent with PMV theory proposed by Professor Ingelhart.

This study has a practical value in assessing the formation of Chinese individuals' PEB. Our results could become the basis for China's government and environmental NGOs to spread environmental knowledge, advocate a post-materialistic lifestyle, and improve the authenticity of online media reports on environmental issues. More notably, our empirical research provides some meaningful insights for future research works. Environmental perception has been shown to participate in the generation of PEB as a mediator, so other factors affecting PEB (like environmental perception) may also exist, such as government trust or media contact, which may mediate the generation of PEB as well. Future researchers might use the above elements proposed by this study to design a serial multiple-mediator SEM.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, J.X.; data curation, J.X.; methodology, C.L.; supervision, C.L.; writing—original draft, J.X. and C.L.; writing—review and editing, J.X. and C.L. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This work was supported by Basic business expenses of Central Universities of China, grant number SK2018048.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the Study.

**Data Availability Statement:** Data are obtained from the Official website of Chinese General Social Survey. All data permission has been obtained and there is no copyright issue for all the figures in the paper.

**Acknowledgments:** We would like to thank RenMin university and the relevant academic institutions who provided data support, and all relevant individuals who helped to improve our paper.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
