The Role of Personality in the Adoption of Pro-Environmental Behaviors through the Lens of the Value-Belief-Norm Theory

J. Hidalgo-Crespo, Andrés Velastegui-Montoya (), J. L. Amaya-Rivas, M. Soto and Andreas Riel
Additional contact information
J. Hidalgo-Crespo: G-SCOP Laboratory, School of Industrial Engineering, Grenoble Alpes University, CNRS, G-SCOP, 38000 Grenoble, France
Andrés Velastegui-Montoya: Facultad de Ingeniería en Ciencias de la Tierra, ESPOL Polytechnic University, Guayaquil P.O. Box 9015863, Ecuador
J. L. Amaya-Rivas: Facultad de Ingeniería Mecánica y Ciencias de la Producción, ESPOL Polytechnic University, Guayaquil P.O. Box 9015863, Ecuador
M. Soto: Facultad de Ciencias, Universidade da Coruña, 15071 A Coruña, Spain
Andreas Riel: G-SCOP Laboratory, School of Industrial Engineering, Grenoble Alpes University, CNRS, G-SCOP, 38000 Grenoble, France

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 17, 1-25

Abstract: The present study investigated citizens’ self-reported pro-environmental behaviors by adopting a survey and bootstrapping via structural equation modeling for five different personality traits. Adopting one traditional psycho-social theory, this study investigates how motivations, values, intentions, norms, and behaviors are connected by using different constructs from the value-belief-norm theory extended with external influences and three different pro-environmental behaviors, namely, waste preventer, green consumer, and avoider, and how the connections change between different personality traits from the Big Five personality test, namely, openness, extroversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, and consciousness. According to this study, personal conscience may inspire environmentally beneficial behaviors like green purchasing and waste reduction when appealing to the emotions of the general public. As a result, strengthening the population’s subjective norms requires interventions that concentrate on communication tactics to raise knowledge of penalties and obligations for communal advantages.

Keywords: value-belief-norm theory (VBN); Big Five personality traits; external influences; pro-environmental behaviors; environmental sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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