A160.
Miller,
L., Rice, R. E., Gustafson, A., & Goldberg, M. (2022). Relationships among environmental
attitudes,
environmental efficacy, and pro-environmental behaviors across and
within 11
countries. Environment & Behavior, 54(7-8).
Open access: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00139165221131002 Online supplement: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00139165221131002
Pro-environmental
behaviors (PEBs) are crucial to reducing
environmental degradations, and much research has focused on two key
psychological antecedents: pro-environmental attitudes and efficacy
beliefs.
Yet, the evidence of their direct and interactive relationships are
mixed.
Further, few studies investigate how these key relationships vary
across
different countries and contexts. Using data from a large international
survey
(N = 11,000) in 11 countries,
we examine relationships among environmental attitudes, efficacy, and
PEBs.
Overall environmental attitudes are a strong predictor of PEBs, while
efficacy
has a small direct and a non-significant moderation effect. Within
countries,
both direct and moderation relationships involving efficacy are tiny.
The
relative dominance of environmental attitudes as a predictor raises
questions
about the unique importance of efficacy in explaining PEBs separate
from
attitudes (and covariates). The nuanced connections between these
variables
within individual countries highlight the importance of more diverse
global
environmental research.