The effects of second-order climate beliefs on environmental communication behavior: The mediating role of environmental discussion efficacy

Abstract

Beliefs about others' beliefs, or "second-order beliefs", are gaining incremental attention in understanding the antecedents of pro-environmental behaviors. However, few extant studies have examined their impact on interpersonal environmental communication, an important type of pro-environmental behavior. Using data from two large-sample online surveys (Study 1: young students in Hainan province, China, N = 9,163; Study 2: adult participants across China, N = 890) and one experiment (N = 200, Study 3), we systematically investigated whether and how second-order climate beliefs (i.e., beliefs about other people's beliefs in the fact of climate change) influence individuals' environmental communication behavior. Results across three studies constantly show that second-order climate beliefs are significantly and positively associated with environmental communication behavior, even after controlling for one's own climate beliefs (i.e., first-order climate beliefs). However, second-order beliefs' positive association with environmental discussion efficacy and the mediation effect of environmental discussion efficacy were only detected in the survey data (Study 2), not in the experiment (Study 3). Overall, the current research offers crucial preliminary insights into understanding the positive effect of second-order climate beliefs on environmental communication behavior and the potential psychological mechanism. We thus provide practical suggestions for encouraging public participation in interpersonal environmental communication based on second-order climate beliefs and discussion efficacy, and offer recommendations for future research to expand research methods, population, as well as types of efficacy.