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

Shizhen Bai, Yan Wang, Shengxiang She and Sheng Wei
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Shizhen Bai: School of Management, Harbin University of Commerce, Harbin 150028, China
Yan Wang: School of Business and Administration, Guizhou University of Finance and Economics, Guiyang 550025, China
Shengxiang She: School of Business and Administration, Guizhou University of Finance and Economics, Guiyang 550025, China
Sheng Wei: School of Management, Harbin University of Commerce, Harbin 150028, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 19, 1-15

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.

Keywords: pro-environmental behaviour (PEB); environmental self-identity (ESI); costliness; autonomy; signalling strength (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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