文献类型：期刊文献

英文题名：How Does Social Interaction Affect Pro-Environmental Behaviors in China? The Mediation Role of Conformity

作者：Zhu, Yuxin[1];Wang, Yin[2];Liu, Ziming[3]

机构：[1]Tongji Univ, Sch Polit Sci & Int Relat, Shanghai, Peoples R China;[2]Fudan Univ, Sch Int Relat & Publ Affairs, Shanghai, Peoples R China;[3]East China Univ Sci & Technol, Sch Social & Publ Adm, Shanghai, Peoples R China

年份：2021

卷号：9

外文期刊名：FRONTIERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

收录：;WOS:【SSCI(收录号:WOS:000661433100001)，SCI-EXPANDED(收录号:WOS:000661433100001)】；

基金：This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 17BZZ007); the Natural Science Foundation of the Higher Education Institutions of Jiangsu Province (grant number 17KJB170004).

语种：英文

外文关键词：social interaction; pro-environmental behaviors; conformity; mediation effect; environmental problem

摘要：Environmental problems rooted in human behaviors have been the major obstacles to sustainable development in many countries. The promotion of residents' pro-environmental behaviors may serve to mitigate environmental problems. In this paper, we understand residents' pro-environmental behaviors from the perspective of social interaction. We distinguish between low-cost and high-cost pro-environmental behaviors and analyze to what extent social interaction may affect the two types of pro-environmental behaviors and whether conformity plays a mediation role, using the Chinese General Social Survey in 2013. We find that frequent social interaction increases residents' low-cost pro-environmental behaviors but decreases residents' high-cost pro-environmental behaviors. Conformity has no mediation role for low-cost pro-environmental behaviors but has a full mediation role for high-cost pro-environmental behaviors. We conclude that residents have a strong tendency to conform to the behavioral patterns of the social majority when such conformity can save their time, effort, or financial cost. To promote residents' pro-environmental behaviors, their enforcement cost for the residents should be taken into account and adaptive policy instruments should be developed for different types of pro-environmental behaviors.