EconPapers    
Economics at your fingertips  
 

From Awareness to Action: A UK-Based Study on Public Perceptions of Digital Pollution

Zohar Barnett-Itzhaki () and Arava Tsoury
Additional contact information
Zohar Barnett-Itzhaki: Ruppin Research Group in Environmental and Social Sustainability, Ruppin Academic Center, Emek Hefer 4025000, Israel
Arava Tsoury: Ruppin Research Group in Environmental and Social Sustainability, Ruppin Academic Center, Emek Hefer 4025000, Israel

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 17, 1-26

Abstract: Digital pollution, encompassing energy consumption, e-waste, and the environmental impact of digital technologies, poses a significant and increasingly pressing environmental challenge that has received insufficient research attention. This study explores public perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors related to digital pollution, focusing on both individuals’ willingness to pay for environmentally friendly digital solutions and their actions to reduce digital environmental impact. Through a comprehensive survey of 300 UK participants, we examined the associations between demographic factors, knowledge levels, perceptions, and environmental actions. While traditional demographic factors such as age and income showed no significant correlation with willingness to pay, we found strong positive correlations with the frequency of environmental consideration (r = 0.47), willingness to act (r = 0.42), and perceived importance of digital pollution (r = 0.40). Notably, knowledge of digital pollution was not correlated with willingness to pay, while self-assessed tech-savviness and environmental knowledge had positive correlations with both willingness to pay and actions taken. Based on a robust cluster analysis, we identified four distinct participant groups: ’Engaged Eco-Tech Enthusiasts’ (youngest, most tech-savvy, and with the highest willingness to act), ‘Knowledgeable Traditionalists’ (oldest, highest knowledge scores, and moderate action), ‘Unengaged Pragmatists’ (lowest engagement), and ‘Affluent Moderates’ (wealthiest and with moderate engagement). These findings provide valuable insights for developing targeted interventions and communication strategies to address this emerging environmental challenge.

Keywords: digital pollution; environmental behavior; environmental awareness; digital sustainability; environmental attitudes; environmental literacy; public awareness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/17/7839/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/17/7839/ (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:17:p:7839-:d:1738692

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 ().

 
Page updated 2025-10-11
Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:17:p:7839-:d:1738692