IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/soceps/v101y2025ics0038012125001053.html

Environmental awareness and pro-environmental behavior impact on renewables investments: A moderating role of environmental concerns

Author

Listed:
  • Esposito, Luca
  • Jalal, Raja Nabeel-Ud-Din

Abstract

This study examines the impact of environmental awareness and pro-environmental behavior on renewable investment intentions and the moderating role of environmental concerns. Using a sample of 350 retail investors, we find that environmental awareness and pro-environmental behavior increase renewable investment intentions. Moreover, environmental concerns moderate the relationship between environmental awareness and renewable investment intentions. However, we find no significant moderating effect of environmental concern in the case of pro-environmental behavior. Overall, our research contributes to the emerging literature on renewable energy investments in contributing circular economy.

Suggested Citation

  • Esposito, Luca & Jalal, Raja Nabeel-Ud-Din, 2025. "Environmental awareness and pro-environmental behavior impact on renewables investments: A moderating role of environmental concerns," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceps:v:101:y:2025:i:c:s0038012125001053
    DOI: 10.1016/j.seps.2025.102256
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0038012125001053
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.seps.2025.102256?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jie Zhou & Shanyue Jin, 2023. "Corporate Environmental Protection Behavior and Sustainable Development: The Moderating Role of Green Investors and Green Executive Cognition," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-18, February.
    2. Zyadin, Anas & Puhakka, Antero & Ahponen, Pirkkoliisa & Cronberg, Tarja & Pelkonen, Paavo, 2012. "School students' knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes toward renewable energy in Jordan," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 78-85.
    3. Pollitt, Michael G., 2012. "The role of policy in energy transitions: Lessons from the energy liberalisation era," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 128-137.
    4. Marra, Alessandro & Colantonio, Emiliano, 2021. "The path to renewable energy consumption in the European Union through drivers and barriers: A panel vector autoregressive approach," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    5. Usman, Muhammad & Balsalobre-Lorente, Daniel, 2022. "Environmental concern in the era of industrialization: Can financial development, renewable energy and natural resources alleviate some load?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    6. Wei, Xiaobo & Mohsin, Muhammad & Zhang, Qiongxin, 2022. "Role of foreign direct investment and economic growth in renewable energy development," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 828-837.
    7. Gabriela Almeida Marcon Nora & Anete Alberton & Diego Hernando Florez Ayala, 2023. "Stakeholder theory and actor‐network theory: The stakeholder engagement in energy transitions," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 673-685, January.
    8. McInerney, Celine & Bunn, Derek W., 2019. "Expansion of the investor base for the energy transition," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 1240-1244.
    9. Tom J. M. Mom & Frans A. J. Van Den Bosch & Henk W. Volberda, 2007. "Investigating Managers' Exploration and Exploitation Activities: The Influence of Top‐Down, Bottom‐Up, and Horizontal Knowledge Inflows," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(6), pages 910-931, September.
    10. András Szeberényi & Tomasz Rokicki & Árpád Papp-Váry, 2022. "Examining the Relationship between Renewable Energy and Environmental Awareness," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-25, September.
    11. Höfer, Tim & Madlener, Reinhard, 2020. "A participatory stakeholder process for evaluating sustainable energy transition scenarios," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    12. Aleluia, J. & Tharakan, P. & Chikkatur, A.P. & Shrimali, G. & Chen, X., 2022. "Accelerating a clean energy transition in Southeast Asia: Role of governments and public policy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    13. Reuter, Wolf Heinrich & Szolgayová, Jana & Fuss, Sabine & Obersteiner, Michael, 2012. "Renewable energy investment: Policy and market impacts," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 249-254.
    14. Xiuzhi He & Samiha Khan & Ilhan Ozturk & Muntasir Murshed, 2023. "The role of renewable energy investment in tackling climate change concerns: Environmental policies for achieving SDG‐13," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(3), pages 1888-1901, June.
    15. Fahmy, Hany, 2022. "The rise in investors’ awareness of climate risks after the Paris Agreement and the clean energy-oil-technology prices nexus," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    16. Wang, Feng & Liu, Jianfang, 2024. "Green bond and corporate environmental investment: The moderating effect of environmental concern," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    17. Aguilar, Francisco X. & Cai, Zhen, 2010. "Exploratory analysis of prospects for renewable energy private investment in the U.S," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1245-1252, November.
    18. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    19. Nabila Amin & Muhammad Salman Shabbir & Huaming Song & Kashif Abbass, 2024. "Renewable energy consumption and its impact on environmental quality: A pathway for achieving sustainable development goals in ASEAN countries," Energy & Environment, , vol. 35(2), pages 644-662, March.
    20. Brett Christophers, 2019. "Environmental Beta or How Institutional Investors Think about Climate Change and Fossil Fuel Risk," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 109(3), pages 754-774, May.
    21. Su, Xiang & Tan, Junlan, 2023. "Regional energy transition path and the role of government support and resource endowment in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    22. Miguel Cárdenas Rodríguez & Ivan Haščič & Nick Johnstone & Jérôme Silva & Antoine Ferey, 2015. "Renewable Energy Policies and Private Sector Investment: Evidence from Financial Microdata," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 62(1), pages 163-188, September.
    23. Esparcia, Carlos & Diaz, Antonio & Alonso, Daniel, 2023. "How important is green awareness in energy investment decisions? An environmentally-based rebalancing portfolio study," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    24. Mutezo, G. & Mulopo, J., 2021. "A review of Africa's transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy using circular economy principles," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    25. Shahsavari, Amir & Akbari, Morteza, 2018. "Potential of solar energy in developing countries for reducing energy-related emissions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 275-291.
    26. Fatima Akhtar, 2022. "Big-five Personality Traits and Pro-environmental Investment Specifics from an Emerging Economy," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 23(2), pages 354-371, April.
    27. Huang, Zilong & Ren, Xiaocong, 2024. "Impact of natural resources, resilient economic growth, and energy consumption on CO2 emissions," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    28. Tingting Song & Hongyue Li & Ziyang Feng, 2024. "Policy and market mechanisms for promoting sustainable energy transition: role of government and private sector," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 1-30, August.
    29. Qian, Shuitu & You, Hang & Wan, Die, 2025. "From pro-environmental behavior to ESG fund investing: Evidence from account-level data in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    30. Francesco Testa & Ivan Miroshnychenko & Roberto Barontini & Marco Frey, 2018. "Does it pay to be a greenwasher or a brownwasher?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(7), pages 1104-1116, November.
    31. Ayesha Afzal & Ehsan Rasoulinezhad & Zaki Malik, 2022. "Green finance and sustainable development in Europe," Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(1), pages 5150-5163, December.
    32. Ali, Amjad & Esposito, Luca & Gatto, Andrea, 2023. "Energy transition and public behavior in Italy: A structural equation modeling," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PB).
    33. Raja Nabeel-Ud-Din Jalal & Simona Leonelli, 2021. "Does Self-attribution Impact on Investor Perception About Cryptocurrency Market Efficiency? The Mediating Role of Overconfidence," Lecture Notes in Information Systems and Organization, in: Federica Ceci & Andrea Prencipe & Paolo Spagnoletti (ed.), Exploring Innovation in a Digital World, pages 137-150, Springer.
    34. Garg, Aashish & Goel, Pooja & Sharma, Anuj & Rana, Nripendra P., 2022. "As you sow, so shall you reap: Assessing drivers of socially responsible investment attitude and intention," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    35. Panwar, N.L. & Kaushik, S.C. & Kothari, Surendra, 2011. "Role of renewable energy sources in environmental protection: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 1513-1524, April.
    36. Siemroth, Christoph & Hornuf, Lars, 2023. "Why Do Retail Investors Pick Green Investments? A Lab-in-the-Field Experiment with Crowdfunders," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 74-90.
    37. Aslani, Alireza & Naaranoja, Marja & Zakeri, Bahnam, 2012. "The prime criteria for private sector participation in renewable energy investment in the Middle East (case study: Iran)," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 1977-1987.
    38. Wüstenhagen, Rolf & Menichetti, Emanuela, 2012. "Strategic choices for renewable energy investment: Conceptual framework and opportunities for further research," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 1-10.
    39. Qi, Xiaoyan & Guo, Yanshan & Guo, Pibin & Yao, Xilong & Liu, Xiuli, 2022. "Do subsidies and R&D investment boost energy transition performance? Evidence from Chinese renewable energy firms," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    40. Li, Menghan & Hamawandy, Nawzad Majeed & Wahid, Fazle & Rjoub, Husam & Bao, Zongke, 2021. "Renewable energy resources investment and green finance: Evidence from China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    41. Yildizbasi, Abdullah, 2021. "Blockchain and renewable energy: Integration challenges in circular economy era," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 183-197.
    42. Wang, Kai-Hua & Zhao, Yan-Xin & Jiang, Cui-Feng & Li, Zheng-Zheng, 2022. "Does green finance inspire sustainable development? Evidence from a global perspective," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 412-426.
    43. Baumgartner, Stefan & Faber, Malte & Proops, John, 2002. "How environmental concern influences the investment decision: an application of capital theory," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 1-12, January.
    44. Pradhan, Rudra P. & Arvin, Mak B. & Nair, Mahendhiran S. & Hall, John H. & Bennett, Sara E., 2021. "Sustainable economic development in India: The dynamics between financial inclusion, ICT development, and economic growth," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    45. Suman, A., 2021. "Role of renewable energy technologies in climate change adaptation and mitigation: A brief review from Nepal," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    46. Renneboog, Luc & Ter Horst, Jenke & Zhang, Chendi, 2008. "Socially responsible investments: Institutional aspects, performance, and investor behavior," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 1723-1742, September.
    47. Luca Esposito & Chiara Vecchio & Giancarlo Cattaneo & Zhouyi Gu & Ester Scotto di Perta, 2023. "Addressing Challenges and Outcomes in the Biogas Sector: An Analysis of Efficiency, Economic Savings, and Environmental Impacts Using an Advanced SWOT Model," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-22, November.
    48. Rafaela Vital Caetano & António Cardoso Marques & Tiago Lopes Afonso, 2022. "How Can Foreign Direct Investment Trigger Green Growth? The Mediating and Moderating Role of the Energy Transition," Economies, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-14, August.
    49. Steve Kennedy & Martina K. Linnenluecke, 2022. "Circular economy and resilience: A research agenda," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(6), pages 2754-2765, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mao, Qian & Ma, Xinyuan & Sun, Yunpeng, 2023. "Study of impacts of blockchain technology on renewable energy resource findings," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 802-808.
    2. Yazdanpanah, Masoud & Komendantova, Nadejda & Ardestani, Roshanak Shafiei, 2015. "Governance of energy transition in Iran: Investigating public acceptance and willingness to use renewable energy sources through socio-psychological model," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 565-573.
    3. Ozorhon, Beliz & Batmaz, Arda & Caglayan, Semih, 2018. "Generating a framework to facilitate decision making in renewable energy investments," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 217-226.
    4. Weijuan Feng & Xiangbin Zuo, 2024. "RETRACTED ARTICLE: The intersection of China’s rural economy, renewable energy, and carbon neutrality," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 1-18, April.
    5. Liu, Yong-Jun & Yang, Guo-Sen & Zhang, Wei-Guo, 2024. "A novel regret-rejoice cross-efficiency approach for energy stock portfolio optimization," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    6. Avri Eitan & Gillad Rosen & Lior Herman & Itay Fishhendler, 2020. "Renewable Energy Entrepreneurs: A Conceptual Framework," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-23, May.
    7. Polzin, Friedemann & Egli, Florian & Steffen, Bjarne & Schmidt, Tobias S., 2019. "How do policies mobilize private finance for renewable energy?—A systematic review with an investor perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 236(C), pages 1249-1268.
    8. Khazaei, Moein & Gholian-Jouybari, Fatemeh & Davari Dolatabadi, Mahdi & Pourebrahimi Alamdari, Aryan & Eskandari, Hamidreza & Hajiaghaei-Keshteli, Mostafa, 2025. "Renewable energy portfolio in Mexico for Industry 5.0 and SDGs: Hydrogen, wind, or solar?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    9. Cheng, Shixiong & Shu, Can & Jin, Meiling & He, Yuhang, 2023. "Balancing resources and sustainability: Analyzing the impact of mineral resources utilization on green growth," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(PA).
    10. Hu, Qian & Gu, Yongkun, 2024. "Mineral resources and the green economy: A blueprint for sustainable development and innovation," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    11. Shang, Yuping & Sang, Shenghu & Tiwari, Aviral Kumar & Khan, Salahuddin & Zhao, Xin, 2024. "Impacts of renewable energy on climate risk: A global perspective for energy transition in a climate adaptation framework," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 362(C).
    12. Liu, Wen & Xu, Jiaqi & Cao, Lei & Li, Fuchang, 2024. "Towards iron ore mining sustainability and low-carbon transformation: Policies and implications," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    13. Xiao, Zunlan & Duritan, Mary Josephine M. & Han, Dongmei & Zong, Yi, 2024. "How does Green education result in resource extraction and consumption sustainability?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    14. Zhang, Lu & Wong, Wing-Keung & Liu, Lunwu & Al Shraah, Ata & Albasher, Badah & Shamansurova, Zilola, 2024. "Balancing environmental sustainability through fintech, green finance natural resource, and economic growth in Asian economies - A Cup-FM and Cup-BC study," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    15. Zhang, Ming & Guo, Manfeng, 2024. "Attracting Private Investment to Renewable Energy Projects in India," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    16. Gamel, Johannes & Bauer, Andreas & Decker, Thomas & Menrad, Klaus, 2022. "Financing wind energy projects: An extended theory of planned behavior approach to explain private households’ wind energy investment intentions in Germany," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 592-601.
    17. Li, Chuandong & Sun, Qingyu & Ma, Xiaowei, 2024. "Promotion or inhibition? Understanding the impact of public environmental concerns on energy transition in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    18. Shang, Yunfeng & Zong, Yi, 2024. "Role of e-commerce for promoting sustainability in the mining sector," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    19. Wang, Moran & Li, Xuerong & Wang, Shouyang, 2021. "Discovering research trends and opportunities of green finance and energy policy: A data-driven scientometric analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    20. Xu, Jin & Liu, Chengjun & Dou, Gang & Cai, Yunfei, 2024. "Mineral resource management in Chinese rural areas: Policy assessment for green economic growth," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • Q42 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Alternative Energy Sources
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:soceps:v:101:y:2025:i:c:s0038012125001053. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/seps .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.