Empowering conservation: how increased power promotes conservation behaviors

Abstract

Despite widespread acknowledgment of the need to conserve natural resources and mitigate climate change, a significant gap remains between conservation attitudes and behaviors. We hypothesize that power enhances conservation behaviors by increasing Perceived Consumer Effectiveness (PCE). We conducted five experiments to manipulate power and measure its effects on both PCE and environmentally-friendly or conservation behaviors. Findings demonstrate that feeling powerful leads to higher PCE, which in turn increases engagement in conservation actions such as recycling and energy conservation. These results highlight the importance of power dynamics in influencing the attitude-behavior gap in environmental contexts. By understanding how a fundamental aspect of social relations (power dynamics) influences conservation behavior, this research contributes to strategies aimed at closing the attitude-behavior gap, thereby promoting effective and widespread environmental stewardship.