Acting together for a positive future: A cross-cultural investigation of how environmental cognitive alternatives and efficacy beliefs contribute to individual and collective biodiversity-conservation intentions

Abstract

Motivating citizens to individually and collectively engage in favor of biodiversity conservation is a fundamental challenge of current society. But what are the drivers that motivate individuals to engage in biodiversity conservation actions? Growing interest in recent research on behavioral change for climate change mitigation is brought to individuals’ perception of the future, and more precisely how individuals’ ability to envision a positive eco-friendly future can be a fundamental step for behavioral change with regards to climate change mitigation. We argue that two important socio-cognitive dimensions need to be integrated in the modelling of biodiversity conservation intentions, related to individuals’ appraisal of collective coping: the perceived ability to imagine a positive future and efficacy beliefs with regards to behavioral and social changes in favor of biodiversity conservation. To this purpose, we carried out an exploratory correlational study, collecting data from France and Germany, China and the USA (total N = 2000). Present findings confirm that the ability to imagine a positive future and efficacy beliefs, together with social identity, social norms and attitudes, are strong correlates of biodiversity-conservation intentions, both at an individual and collective level. These findings offer important insights on envisioning positive futures as a significant factor supporting pro-environmental intentions.