The Impact of an Authoritarian Personality on Pro-Environmental Behaviour for Air Pollution Mitigation through Interactions with Social Norms

Jiawen Cao and Jin Chen
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Jiawen Cao: CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China
Jin Chen: CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 17, 1-20

Abstract: This study examines how risk perception and authoritarian personality affect public engagement in mitigating air pollution. Data were collected ( n = 2010) from 13 Chinese cities with varying air pollution gradients using questionnaires. The results demonstrated that air pollution was significantly correlated with people’s risk perception and concern about air pollution, which significantly affected their pro-environmental behaviour (PEB). However, high-risk perceptions undermine the public’s self-efficacy and reduce people’s PEB in the private sphere. People with high scores of the authoritarian personality type were reluctant to engage in PEB in the private sphere; interestingly, it can also be transformed into a stronger PEB in the public sphere via social norms. Thus, this study suggests that educational activities can break the negative link between authoritarianism and environmentalism, leading to behavioural change. Hence, it is essential for education programs to harvest positive outcomes via adaptive approaches for varying authoritarian personalities.

Keywords: air pollution; authoritarian; personality; pro-environmental behaviour; risk perception (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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