The relationship of environmental concern with public and private pro‐environmental behaviours: A pre‐registered meta‐analysis

• Published in: European journal of social psychology Vol. 53; no. 1; pp. 1 - 14
• Main Authors: Lou, Xiaobin, Li, Liman Man Wai
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bognor Regis Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.02.2023
• Subjects: Behavior; Cultural factors; Environmental attitudes; Environmental behaviour; environmental concern; Environmental protection; Individualism; Institutionalization; Meta-analysis; new environmental paradigm; private pro‐environmental behaviour; public pro‐environmental behaviour; Sociocultural factors
• ISSN: 0046-2772; 1099-0992
• DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.2879

Previous meta‐analyses identified a gap between environmental concern and pro‐environmental behaviours. However, the failure to differentiate these behaviours and the influence of contextual factors may limit understanding of the gap. This pre‐registered meta‐analysis evaluated the magnitudes of the correlations of environmental concern, as measured by the New Environmental Paradigm of thinking, with public and private pro‐environmental behaviours and investigated the moderating roles of sociocultural contexts. Environmental concern was found positively correlated with public pro‐environmental behaviour (k = 10, N = 4636; r = 0.27) and private pro‐environmental behaviour (k = 31, N = 20,907; r = 0.35). These two pooled correlations did not differ significantly. Institutionalization of environmental protection did not moderate these correlations, while cultural factors, including individualism, long‐term orientation, and external control, did. These findings maintain the utility of environmental concern in facilitating different pro‐environmental behaviours and highlight the lack of research attention on public pro‐environmental behaviour.