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Environmental Sustainability and Pro-environmental Behavior

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2023) | Viewed by 31942

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Yan Sun

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Guest Editor

Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 4A Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China
Interests: decision-making process; environmental protection behavior

Dr. Yan Meng

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Guest Editor

Marketing Department, Grenoble Ecole de Management, 12, rue Pierre Sémard, 38000 Grenoble, France
Interests: consumer behavior; experimental design; sustainable development; ethics; fashion and luxury brand management

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As one of the major crises of our time, climate change poses a massive threat to human beings worldwide (UNEP, 2015), and the positive action in response to this challenge, including mitigation and adaptation, requires every sector of society. Sustainable concerns have also led to greater environmental awareness in academia and business practice in recent decades (e.g., Ngo et al., 2018; Taken and Brower, 2012). A growing list of countries has committed to a net-zero emission or carbon neutrality by the middle of this century. The process has gained increasing recognition that public engagement is a vital force besides economic, political, and technological systems, given that carbon emission from individual daily life accounts for approximately 65% of the total emission globally.

According to the Emissions Gap Report 2020 released by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), greener individual and household lifestyles would significantly mitigate climate change. The lifestyles include sustainable ways of mobility (e.g., taking public transportation), residential energy use (e.g., using renewable energy), and food choice (e.g., choosing organic food). Although we have seen an increasing number of studies on environmental sustainability in academia, the research seems still complicated and needed (Kumar and Polonsky, 2017; Leonidou and Leonidou, 2011; Tilikidou and Delistavrou, 2014; Yue et al, 2021). On the one hand, straightforward communication and education targeting the public are less than desirable since climate change is a remote psychological event that does not elicit the individual perception of “happening now, here and to me.” This psychological distance hardly makes individuals take environmental issues as their responsibility. On the other hand, the prevalent “attitude-behavior” gap indicates non-negligible barriers in carrying out actual green behaviors when people are equipped with a suite of professional knowledge and high sustainable intention.

This Special Issue focuses on the theoretical and practical innovation in exploring the mechanism of environmental sustainability and pro-environmental behaviors. Research from the perspectives of individuals, corporates, NGOs, institutional organizations, and governments, or with an integrated view, is all welcomed. Original research articles (quantitative and qualitative), meta-analyses, and review articles related to this topic will all be considered.

Potential themes relevant to this Special Issue may include, but are not limited to, the following:

Green lifestyle (individual or household);
Theoretical progress of pro-environmental behaviors;
Political revolutions to drive environmental sustainability transformation;
Cross-cultural comparison of green marketing;
Gender difference in pro-environmental behaviors;
Consumer recycling and conservation behavior;
The impact of green marketing strategies;
The role of social media in environmental information and education program;
Environmentally sustainable behavior and public policy;
Development and validation of an integrative model for explaining pro-environmental behavior;
Green strategy;
Green brands/products/services.

References

Kumar, P., & Polonsky, M. J. (2017). An Analysis of the Green Consumer Domain within Sustainability Research: 1975 to 2014. Australasian Marketing Journal, 25(2), 85-96.
Leonidou, C. N., & Leonidou, L. C. (2011). Research into Environmental Marketing/Management: A Bibliographic Analysis. European Journal of Marketing, 45(1-2), 68-103.
Ngo, T., Lohmann, G., & Hales, R. (2018). Collaborative marketing for the
sustainable development of community-based tourism enterprises: voices from
the field. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 26(8), 1325-1343.
Taken Smith, K., Brower, T. 2012. Longitudinal study of green marketing strategies that influence millennials. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 20(6), pp.535-551.
Tilikidou, I., & Delistavrou, A. (2014). Pro-Environmental Purchasing Behaviour During the Economic Crisis. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 32(2), 160-173.
United Nations Environment Programme. (2020). Emissions gap report 2020. Nairobi.
United Nations Environment Programme. (2015). UNEP 2014 Annual Report. Retrieved 29 August 2021, from United Nations Environment Programme http://www.unep.org/annualreport/2015/en/index.h tml
Yue, D. , Tong, Z. , Tian, J. , Li, Y. , & Sun, Y. . (2021). Anthropomorphic strategies promote wildlife conservation through empathy: the moderation role of the public epidemic situation. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(7), 3565.

Dr. Yan Sun
Dr. Yan Meng
Guest Editors

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Keywords

environmental sustainability
pro-environmental behaviors
green lifestyle
green strategy
recycling and conservation behavior

Published Papers (12 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 907 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exploring the Concept, Antecedents, and Consequences of Environmental Psychological Ownership

by Shengxiang She, Shicheng Li, Jiaqi Xu and Bo Yang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(19), 12621; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912621 - 2 Oct 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1852

Abstract

This paper extends the concept of psychological ownership to the general natural environment, clarifies the concept of environmental psychological ownership, and analyzes the formation mechanism of environmental psychological ownership from three dimensions. According to the results of structural equation model based on data obtained from the questionnaire survey, pro-environment investment, environmental self-efficacy, and environmental knowledge are all positively associated with the individual’s environmental psychological ownership, among which the correlation between environmental knowledge and environmental psychological ownership is the strongest. In addition, the environmental psychological ownership positively predicts the individual’s pro-environmental intentions. The conclusion of the study can guide how to strengthen the environmental psychological ownership, thus providing a new perspective for pro-environmental behavior intervention. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Sustainability and Pro-environmental Behavior)

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24 pages, 2447 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatial-Temporal Characteristics and Driving Factors of the Eco-Efficiency of Tourist Hotels in China

by Duoxun Ba, Jing Zhang, Suocheng Dong, Bing Xia and Lin Mu

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(18), 11515; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191811515 - 13 Sep 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1937

Abstract

At present, COVID-19 is seriously affecting the economic development of the hotel industry, and at the same time, the world is vigorously calling for “carbon emission mitigation”. Under these two factors, tourist hotels are in urgent need of effective tools to balance economic and social contributions with ecological and environmental impacts. Therefore, this paper takes Chinese tourist hotels as the research object and constructs a research framework for Chinese tourist hotels by constructing a Super-SBM Non-Oriented model. We measured the economic efficiency and eco-efficiency of Chinese tourist hotels from 2000 to 2019; explored spatial-temporal evolution patterns of their income, carbon emissions, eco-efficiency, and economic efficiency through spatial hotspot analysis and center of gravity analysis; and identified the spatial agglomeration characteristics of such hotels through the econometric panel Tobit model to identify the different driving factors inside and outside the tourist hotel system. The following results were obtained: (1) the eco-efficiency of China’s tourist hotels is higher than the economic efficiency, which is in line with the overall Kuznets curve theory, but the income and carbon emissions have not yet been decoupled; (2) most of China’s tourist hotels are crudely developed with much room for improving the economic efficiency, and most of the provincial and regional tourist hotels are at a low-income level, but the carbon emissions are still on the increase; and (3) income, labor, carbon emissions, waste emissions, and water consumption are the internal drivers of China’s tourist hotels, while industrial structure, urbanization rate, energy efficiency, and information technology are the external drivers of China’s tourist hotels. The research results provide a clear path for the reduction in carbon emissions and the improvement of the eco-efficiency of Chinese tourist hotels. Under the backdrop of global climate change and the post-COVID-19 era, the research framework and conclusions provide references for countries with new economies similar to China and countries that need to quickly restore the hotel industry. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Sustainability and Pro-environmental Behavior)

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17 pages, 1474 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Green Product Types Modulate Green Consumption in the Gain and Loss Framings: An Event-Related Potential Study

by Guanfei Zhang, Mei Li, Jin Li, Min Tan, Huie Li and Yiping Zhong

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(17), 10746; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191710746 - 29 Aug 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2044

Abstract

People show a separation of intention and behavior in green consumption, and promoting actual green purchase behavior is more important than purchase intention. This study adopted a conflicting environmental decision paradigm to investigate behavioral and neural processes during actual green consumption decision-making involving different types of green products and message framing, according to construal level theory. Participants were instructed to make green consumption decisions involving green products with different psychological distances (self-interested green products vs. other-interested green products) under gain (e.g., buying green products brings positive results) or loss framing (e.g., not buying green products brings negative effects) while electroencephalograms were recorded. The behavioral results demonstrated that participants tended to purchase green products under loss framing more than under gain framing. The event-related potential results showed that under gain framing, decision-making for self-interested green products was associated with larger P3 than decision-making for other-interested green products. While under loss framing, decision-making for other-interested green products has a larger P260 than for self-interested green products. These findings suggest that under gain framing, self-interested green products elicit more cognitive resources than other-interested green products, while under loss framing, other-interested green products elicit stronger negative emotions than self-interested green products. The research has managerial implications for promoting consumers’ actual purchase behavior. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Sustainability and Pro-environmental Behavior)

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17 pages, 1749 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Does Environmental Interpretation Impact Public Ecological Flow Experience and Responsible Behavior? A Case Study of Potatso National Park, China

by Tiantian Tang, Minyan Zhao, Dan Wang, Xiangyu Chen, Wuqiang Chen, Chunwen Xie and Yan Ding

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(15), 9630; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19159630 - 5 Aug 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1944

Abstract

Being responsible for ensuring nature preservation, environmental interpretation raises people’s awareness of nature preservation as a form of public service, and enhance their environmentally responsible behavior. Based on the flow theory, this study proposes a conceptual model of environmental interpretation impacts on visit motivation, ecological experience, environmental attitudes, and environmental behaviors. Selecting the users (visitors) of environmental interpretation at Potatso National Park in Shangri-La, Yunnan Province, China, we obtained 568 valid questionnaires and used Amos software to analyze a structural equation model to verify the model. The results indicate that the environmental interpretation plays a significant role in enriching the public’s ecological experience, which is an intermediary variable in which visiting motivation influences environmental attitudes and guides environmentally responsible behavior. The research suggests that national parks should strengthen the environmental interpretation facilities experiential and available, and adjust the configuration of the existing interpretation media in the three-dimensional structure of theme, space, and time, considering the motivation of the public visits, enriching ecological experience, and inspiring service details. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Sustainability and Pro-environmental Behavior)

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14 pages, 1244 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Predictive Analysis of the Pro-Environmental Behaviour of College Students Using a Decision-Tree Model

by Qiaoling Wang, Ziyu Kou, Xiaodan Sun, Shanshan Wang, Xianjuan Wang, Hui Jing and Peiying Lin

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(15), 9407; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19159407 - 31 Jul 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2327

Abstract

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has hindered the achievement of the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Pro-environmental behaviour contributes to the achievement of the SDGs, and UNESCO considers college students as major contributors. There is a scarcity of research on college student pro-environmental behaviour and even less on the use of decision trees to predict pro-environmental behaviour. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the validity of applying a modified C5.0 decision-tree model to predict college student pro-environmental behaviour and to determine which variables can be used as predictors of such behaviour. To address these questions, 334 university students in Guangdong Province, China, completed a questionnaire that consisted of seven parts: the Perceived Behavioural Control Scale, the Social Identity Scale, the Innovative Behaviour Scale, the Sense of Place Scale, the Subjective Norms Scale, the Environmental Activism Scale, and the willingness to behave in an environmentally responsible manner scale. A modified C5.0 decision-tree model was also used to make predictions. The results showed that the main predictor variables for pro-environmental behaviour were willingness to behave in an environmentally responsible manner, innovative behaviour, and perceived behavioural control. The importance of willingness to behave in an environmentally responsible manner was 0.1562, the importance of innovative behaviour was 0.1404, and the perceived behavioural control was 0.1322. Secondly, there are 63.88% of those with high pro-environmental behaviour. Therefore, we conclude that the decision tree model is valid in predicting the pro-environmental behaviour of college student. The predictor variables for pro-environmental behaviour were, in order of importance: Willingness to behave in an environmentally responsible manner, Environmental Activism, Subjective Norms, Sense of Place, Innovative Behaviour, Social Identity, and Perceived Behavioural Control. This study establishes a link between machine learning and pro-environmental behaviour and broadens understanding of pro-environmental behaviour. It provides a research support with improving people’s sustainable development philosophy and behaviour. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Sustainability and Pro-environmental Behavior)

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18 pages, 1756 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Predicting the Intention to Sort Waste at Home in Rural Communities in Lebanon: An Application of the Theory of Planned Behaviour

by Marco Bardus and May A. Massoud

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(15), 9383; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19159383 - 31 Jul 2022

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2758

Abstract

Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) such as Lebanon have limited technical, economic, and social infrastructures to manage municipal solid waste properly. Understanding what motivates citizens to sort waste at home is paramount to designing effective, efficient, and equitable waste management interventions. Within the solid waste management project “RES-Q” in Southern Lebanon, we investigated the socio-cognitive predictors of waste sorting in a sample of 767 households from the targeted area using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). Perceived behavioural control (β = 0.96, p < 0.001), perceived norms (β = −0.30, p < 0.001), and current behaviour (β = 0.06, p < 0.001) were the strongest predictors of intention; attitude toward separating waste was not a significant predictor (β = 0.04, p = 0.3881). Consequently, future behavioural interventions should build capability and opportunity to perform the behaviour before normalising it. For example, citizens should receive bins and bags to separate waste and be shown how to perform the behaviour and how easy and convenient it is to increase their behavioural control. In parallel, waste collection and treatment infrastructures must be in place so that citizens can see that sorting waste is a social norm. These actions will ensure the success of future behavioural interventions within the RES-Q project and beyond. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Sustainability and Pro-environmental Behavior)

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14 pages, 3315 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Use of Intergroup Social Comparison in Promoting Water Conservation: Evidence from a Survey Experiment in China

by Yijie Wang, Lei Xie and Shuang Li

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(13), 7749; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19137749 - 24 Jun 2022

Viewed by 1750

Abstract

This study examines the effect of the intergroup social comparison approach in promoting water conservation. In an online survey experiment, participants first encountered normative persuasive messages, informative persuasive messages, or intergroup social comparison messages and then reported their willingness to conserve water, prior water usage, and demographic information. Results showed a significantly higher willingness to conserve water in the intergroup social comparison condition compared to other conditions. We further investigated whether this social comparison effect was moderated by prior water usage and the strength of comparison. Results suggest that prior water usage, rather than the strength of comparison, moderated the influence of intergroup social comparison. Moreover, the moderating effect of prior water usage only works when participants receive a low level of strength of comparison. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Sustainability and Pro-environmental Behavior)

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17 pages, 689 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Social Capital, Environmental Knowledge, and Pro-Environmental Behavior

by Qinyuan Wan and Wencui Du

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(3), 1443; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031443 - 27 Jan 2022

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 4002

Abstract

As the value form of public access to environmental information, the impact of social capital on pro-environmental behavior cannot be ignored. Based on the data of the Chinese General Social Survey 2013 (CGSS2013), this study measures social capital from four aspects—social trust, social norms, social network, and social participation—and it empirically tests the impact of social capital on private and public pro-environmental behavior. The study finds that social capital helps promote pro-environmental behavior. Specifically, the more the public abides by social norms, the higher the degree of social participation, and the stronger the willingness to adopt private and public pro-environmental behaviors. However, the improvement of social trust only has a significant impact on the private environmental behaviors, and the expansion of the social network scale only has a significant impact on the public pro-environmental behaviors. The enhancement of social capital enriches environmental knowledge and promotes pro-environmental behaviors. The mechanism test shows that environmental knowledge plays an intermediary role in the path of social capital affecting individual pro-environmental behavior. The improvement of social capital has a significant impact on the environmental knowledge of individuals with high subjective social class. The gender heterogeneity of social capital affecting environmental knowledge mainly stems from social trust and social network. The stronger the degree of social trust, the richer the environmental knowledge of women, and the social network mainly affects the knowledge level of men. In addition, the publics in the southern region are more likely to be affected by social trust and improve environmental knowledge. Based on the above research conclusions, this paper puts forward policy suggestions on institutional aspects, such as increasing support for informal environmental organizations, carrying out differentiated sustainable development education, and improving the mechanism of environmental information communication. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Sustainability and Pro-environmental Behavior)

20 pages, 1620 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Regional Ecological Civilization Policy: Evidence from Jiangsu Province, China

by Lingyun Mi, Tianwen Jia, Yang Yang, Lulu Jiang, Bangjun Wang, Tao Lv, Le Li and Junfeng Cao

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(1), 388; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19010388 - 30 Dec 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3184

Abstract

Evaluating the effectiveness of ecological civilization policies is the basis from which policymakers can optimize policies. From the perspective of the overall effectiveness of regional policies, and taking Jiangsu Province as an example, this study constructed a quantitative evaluation model of eco-civilization policy text and an eco-civilization evaluation index system. Using these tools, this paper evaluates the effectiveness of 53 ecological civilization policies issued by Jiangsu Province during 2004–2019 to promote the construction of ecological civilization in the four fields of resource utilization, environmental protection, economic development, and social life. There are three key findings. (1) During the period of 2004–2019, the effectiveness of the textual content of ecological civilization policies in Jiangsu Province generally showed a fluctuating upward trend. (2) The construction effectiveness indexes of the four fields of eco-civilization all showed a growth trend, but the construction effect varied greatly. The index of economic development had grown rapidly, while environmental protection had grown slowly. (3) Ecological civilization policies in Jiangsu Province were effective in promoting the construction of ecological civilization. However, the effects of different policy dimensions on ecological civilization development in the four fields were significantly different. Finally, based on these results, powerful recommendations are provided for the optimization of eco-civilization policies in Jiangsu Province. Moreover, Jiangsu is the first province in China to launch a provincial-level ecological civilization construction plan. Its policy optimization to promote ecological civilization construction can also provide an example and realistic basis for reference for the construction of eco-civilization in other provinces in China. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Sustainability and Pro-environmental Behavior)

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17 pages, 702 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exploring the Differential Effect of Life Satisfaction on Low and High-Cost Pro-Environmental Behaviors

by Salvador del Saz Salazar and Luis Pérez y Pérez

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(1), 277; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19010277 - 27 Dec 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2817

Abstract

The role of life satisfaction as a determinant of pro-environmental behavior remains largely unexplored in the extant literature. Using a sample of undergraduate students, we explore the effect of life satisfaction on low- and high-cost pro-environmental behaviors. While low-cost pro-environmental behavior has been defined as recycling activities, high-cost pro-environmental behavior is defined in a contingent valuation framework in which respondents are asked about their willingness to pay extra for offsetting CO₂ emissions, thus avoiding treating the proposed payment as symbolic. Controlling for demographic characteristics and environmental concern, results suggest that life satisfaction has a slightly stronger, and more significant, effect on high-cost pro-environmental behavior than in low-cost pro-environmental behavior. This study also finds that environmental concern and having siblings with a university degree increases the probability of engaging in both behaviors. However, family income is a better predictor of high-cost pro-environmental behavior than of low-cost pro-environmental behavior. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Sustainability and Pro-environmental Behavior)

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16 pages, 600 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Unleashing the Potential Role of CSR and Altruistic Values to Foster Pro-Environmental Behavior by Hotel Employees

by Jing Shao, Asif Mahmood and Heesup Han

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(24), 13327; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182413327 - 17 Dec 2021

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 3224

Abstract

The hotel sector, around the globe, has a bad reputation due to its oversized carbon footprint. Therefore, this sector requires different approaches to improve its environmental management efforts. In this regard, the importance of employees’ pro-environmental behavior (PEB) has been recently discussed to reduce an enterprise’s carbon footprint. Reflecting this, the current work aims to improve PEB of employees as an outcome of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and altruistic values (ALV) in the hotel enterprises of an emerging economy. A total of 489 valid responses was collected from hotel employees, which were then analyzed through structural equation modeling (SEM). Different hypotheses were validated by employing SEM, and the results confirmed that CSR, directly and indirectly, via ALV as a mediator, improves PEB. The current work offers insights into the hotel industry for improving its environmental footprint through CSR and ALV. Moreover, academically, the current work advances the literature on CSR and environmental management from the perspective of hotel enterprises and by highlighting the role of individual values, especially ALV. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Sustainability and Pro-environmental Behavior)

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15 pages, 993 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Will Costliness Amplify the Signalling Strength of Past Pro-Environmental Behaviour? Exploratory Study on Autonomy

by Shizhen Bai, Yan Wang, Shengxiang She and Sheng Wei

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(19), 10216; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph181910216 - 28 Sep 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1950

Abstract

Research has shown that the extent to which previous environmental actions are linked to people’s environmental self-identity influences subsequent environmentally-friendly behaviour. The study empirically examined the influences of recycling efforts on subsequent pro-environmental behaviour by PLS (partial least squares) structural equation modelling based on the survey data of 426 respondents in China. The results indicate that recycling efforts have a positive effect on pro-environmental behaviour through the mechanism of feelings of pride and environmental self-identity. We hypothesise that past pro-environmental behaviour is more likely to promote an individual’s environmental self-identity when the behaviour is incurred with a higher costliness. However, the results show that only when individuals autonomously perform costly recycling behaviour, the signalling strength of previous recycling efforts is higher to promote environmental self-identity. On the contrary, the high costliness weakens the signalling strength of previous recycling efforts through producing negative emotions. Our results show that when reminding people of their past pro-environmental behaviour in order to promote future pro-environmental behaviour, it is useful to emphasize the autonomously taken costliness of behaviour as it can strongly signal that one is a pro-environmental person, thus as to strengthen environmental self-identity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Sustainability and Pro-environmental Behavior)

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