Promoting individual and collective pro-environmental behaviors: The role of Sense of Responsible Togetherness and Sense of Community.

Abstract

Climate crisis represents a challenge for modern communities to be addressed through both individual and collective pro-environmental behaviors (PEB). Therefore, the present study proposes a theoretical model of community-related assets that may promote citizens' engagement in pro-environmental collective and individual PEB. 427 Italian citizens answered an online questionnaire detecting their Sense of Responsible Togetherness (SoRT), Sense of Community (SoC), pro-environmental Civic Engagement Behaviors (CEB), individual PEB, and interest in collective initiatives about the use of renewable energy sources. A multiple sequential mediation model was run using Structural Equation Modeling. The results suggest that SoRT fosters active engagement in pro-environmental collective actions, up to supporting individual PEB. Conversely, a paradoxical effect emerges as to SoC as a disengagement trigger for both individual and collective PEB. Therefore, promoting feelings of responsibility toward one's community may represent a more effective resource than enhancing individuals' affective bond to it to address the climate crisis.