Roles, Risks and Responsibility: Foundations of Pro-Environmental Culture in Everyday Choices

Olena Pavlova, Oksana Liashenko, Olena Mykhailovska, Kostiantyn Pavlov, Krzysztof Posłuszny () and Antoni Korcyl
Additional contact information
Olena Pavlova: Faculty of Management, AGH University of Krakow, Al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków, Poland
Oksana Liashenko: Faculty of Economics and Management, Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University, Voli Ave, 13, 43025 Lutsk, Ukraine
Olena Mykhailovska: Higher Educational Institution «University of Future Transformation», Remisnycha Str., 28, 14000 Chernihiv, Ukraine
Kostiantyn Pavlov: Faculty of Economics and Management, Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University, Voli Ave, 13, 43025 Lutsk, Ukraine
Krzysztof Posłuszny: Faculty of Management, AGH University of Krakow, Al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków, Poland
Antoni Korcyl: Faculty of Management, AGH University of Krakow, Al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków, Poland

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 20, 1-23

Abstract: This study explores how contextual framings influence sustainable decision-making in everyday situations. Building on the literature about the intention–behaviour gap, we examine the combined effect of role activation and environmental risk on pro-environmental preferences. A scenario-based behavioural experiment, conducted via oTree, integrated within-subject role framing (citizen, consumer, neutral) with randomised environmental risk conditions. Participants completed repeated binary choice tasks, where Eco-Preference was defined as the frequency with which they chose the sustainable option. The results indicate that activating a citizen role significantly increased Eco-Preference compared to consumer or neutral framings, while high-risk contexts did not directly boost sustainable behaviour. Instead, risk cues had an indirect effect through motivational states, highlighting the mediating role of Eco-Preference. Theoretically, this study advances Eco-Preference as a latent behavioural construct linking identity-based theories of responsibility with decision-based models of sustainability. Practically, the findings underscore the potential of role-based communication strategies to enhance ecological responsibility, suggesting that both policy and organisational interventions can benefit from fostering civic identities. Ultimately, the framework is applicable across cultures by offering a behavioural measure less prone to survey bias, supporting future comparative research on environmental decision-making.

Keywords: pro-environmental behavior; ecological responsibility; social identity; role-based decision-making; behavioral economics; ecological culture; sustainability transition; Bayesian mediation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/20/9019/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/20/9019/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:20:p:9019-:d:1769098

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().