Moderating the influence of social norms on climate change mitigation behavior: The roles of environmental beliefs, government quality, and policy incentives

Abstract

Although social norms—what other people commonly do and approve of—are widely cited as a key antecedent of individuals' pro-environmental behavior (PEB), empirical research has revealed considerable variability in the norm-PEB relationship. Through a large survey of residents in Hangzhou, China, this study investigates the impact of perceived social norms on climate change mitigation behaviors, focusing on both private-sphere PEB and public-sphere environmental activism. It seeks to advance the current understanding of norm effect heterogeneity by exploring the unique roles of intrapersonal environmental beliefs and perceptions of government institutions and policy incentives in moderating normative influence.

The results show that perceived social norms had an overall positive effect on both private behavior and environmental activism scales, emerging as the most powerful predictor for each. Importantly, the normative influence on the activism scale was more pronounced among individuals with higher levels of climate change risk concerns or personal moral obligation toward mitigation, and those who endorsed the quality of government more strongly, whereas on the private behavior scale, normative influence was greater among those who perceived external financial incentives for private PEBs as more salient. The moderation patterns observed based on composite scales remained consistent across individual PEBs, except that risk concerns and moral obligation also positively moderated the norm impact on one private behavior (energy saving). Overall, the findings highlight the substantial interactions between social norms and other behavioral determinants, with important implications for refining PEB theories and informing climate policies.