A165.
Miller, L. B., Rice, R. E.
(2024). (Mis)matched direct and moderating relationships among
pro-environmental attitudes, environmental efficacy, and
pro-environmental
behaviors across and within 11 countries. PLoS
ONE, 19(6): e0304945. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0304945 (open access; 40 pp.; extensive appendices)
Pro-environmental
behaviors are influenced by
individuals’ pro-environmental attitudes and environmental efficacy,
among many
other factors. However, attitude-behavior models are inconsistent on
whether
and how attitudes, efficacy, and behaviors should match in specificity
or
generality, and on the moderation effect of efficacy. This study first
tests a
simple model including direct and moderating relationships between
pro-environmental
attitudes, environmental efficacy, and pro-environmental behaviors.
Then it
examines relationships among subscales matched or mismatched in their
respective specific or general domain of environmental attitudes
(concern,
values), environmental efficacy (self, collective), and
pro-environmental
behaviors (private, public). Secondary data come from an overall sample
of
11,000 respondents across 11 countries, with n=1,000 from each country.
Pro-environmental
attitudes and efficacy have direct relationships with pro-environmental
behavior, but efficacy has little moderation effect. Different
combinations of
(mis)matched measures produce slightly different results,
with the most
variance explained, counter to hypotheses, by two mismatched models.
Results
are generally consistent across countries.