IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i4p3637-d1072777.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Prosociality and Personality: Perceived Efficacy of Behaviors Mediates Relationships between Personality and Self-Reported Climate Change Mitigation Behavior

Author

Listed:
  • John B. Nezlek

    (Center for Climate Action and Social Transformations, Institute of Psychology, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, ul. Chodakowska 19/31, 03-815 Warsaw, Poland
    Department of Psychological Sciences, College of William & Mary, Box 8795, Williamsburg, VA 23185, USA)

  • Marzena Cypryańska

    (Center for Climate Action and Social Transformations, Institute of Psychology, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, ul. Chodakowska 19/31, 03-815 Warsaw, Poland)

Abstract

The included studies examined the relationship between climate change mitigation behavior (CCB) and personality. In Study 1, 1089 US collegians completed a measure of the Big Five and indicated how often they engaged in five CCBs. Engaging in each CCB was regressed on the Big Five. These analyses found openness was positively related to all five CCBs, neuroticism was positively related to four of five CCBs, and extraversion was positively related to three CCBs. In Study 2, 1688 US collegians completed the same measures as in Study 1 with two additional CCBs. They also indicated how efficacious they thought each CCB was. Each CCB was regressed on the Big Five. These results largely replicated those of Study 1 and also found that conscientiousness was positively related to five of seven CCBs. Mediational analyses found that all relationships between personality factors and CCB were mediated by the perceived efficacy of the CCB. The present results suggest that efforts to increase climate change mitigation behavior need to take into account the perceived efficacy of such behaviors.

Suggested Citation

  • John B. Nezlek & Marzena Cypryańska, 2023. "Prosociality and Personality: Perceived Efficacy of Behaviors Mediates Relationships between Personality and Self-Reported Climate Change Mitigation Behavior," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-13, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:4:p:3637-:d:1072777
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/4/3637/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/4/3637/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lefevre, Carmen E. & Bruine de Bruin, Wändi & Taylor, Andrea L. & Dessai, Suraje & Kovats, Sari & Fischhoff, Baruch, 2015. "Heat protection behaviors and positive affect about heat during the 2013 heat wave in the United Kingdom," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 282-289.
    2. Derick A. Akompab & Peng Bi & Susan Williams & Janet Grant & Iain A. Walker & Martha Augoustinos, 2013. "Heat Waves and Climate Change: Applying the Health Belief Model to Identify Predictors of Risk Perception and Adaptive Behaviours in Adelaide, Australia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-21, May.
    3. Anne M. van Valkengoed & Linda Steg, 2019. "Meta-analyses of factors motivating climate change adaptation behaviour," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 9(2), pages 158-163, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Longlong Zhao, 2024. "HEXACO that associate with individual waste sorting behaviour," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(11), pages 28449-28463, November.

    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. Farman Ullah & Martina Valente & Ives Hubloue & Muhammad Sannan Akbar & Luca Ragazzoni & Francesco Barone-Adesi, 2024. "Determinants of adaptive behaviors during heatwaves in Pakistan: a study based on personal heatwave experiences and hypothetical scenarios," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 29(5), pages 1-19, June.
    2. Lawrence A. Palinkas & Michael S. Hurlburt & Cecilia Fernandez & Jessenia De Leon & Kexin Yu & Erika Salinas & Erika Garcia & Jill Johnston & Md. Mostafijur Rahman & Sam J. Silva & Rob S. McConnell, 2022. "Vulnerable, Resilient, or Both? A Qualitative Study of Adaptation Resources and Behaviors to Heat Waves and Health Outcomes of Low-Income Residents of Urban Heat Islands," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-19, September.
    3. Violeta Mihaela Dincă & Mihail Busu & Zoltan Nagy-Bege, 2022. "Determinants with Impact on Romanian Consumers’ Energy-Saving Habits," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-18, June.
    4. Marijn H. C. Meijers & Christin Scholz & Ragnheiður “Heather” Torfadóttir & Anke Wonneberger & Marko Markov, 2022. "Learning from the COVID-19 pandemic to combat climate change: comparing drivers of individual action in global crises," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 12(2), pages 272-282, June.
    5. Tjaša Pogačar & Zala Žnidaršič & Lučka Kajfež Bogataj & Zalika Črepinšek, 2020. "Steps Towards Comprehensive Heat Communication in the Frame of a Heat Health Warning System in Slovenia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-16, August.
    6. Hilary Byerly Flint & Paul Cada & Patricia A. Champ & Jamie Gomez & Danny Margoles & James R. Meldrum & Hannah Brenkert-Smith, 2022. "You vs. us: framing adaptation behavior in terms of private or social benefits," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 174(1), pages 1-17, September.
    7. Heidi E Brown & Erika Austhof & Paula M Luz & Daniel B Ferguson, 2023. "Economics, health, or environment: What motivates individual climate action?," PLOS Climate, Public Library of Science, vol. 2(8), pages 1-16, August.
    8. Susana Ferreira, 2024. "Extreme Weather Events and Climate Change: Economic Impacts and Adaptation Policies," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 16(1), pages 207-231, October.
    9. Alfred Olfert & Gérard Hutter, 2025. "Strategic Communication and Evaluation to Improve the Capacities of Local Administration for Climate Change Adaptation: A Case Study on Dresden, Germany," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 61-79, March.
    10. Xie, Li & Li, Siyi, 2024. "Climate risk and energy-saving technology innovation: Evidence from Chinese prefecture-level cities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    11. Chandni Singh & James Ford & Debora Ley & Amir Bazaz & Aromar Revi, 2020. "Assessing the feasibility of adaptation options: methodological advancements and directions for climate adaptation research and practice," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 162(2), pages 255-277, September.
    12. Gil-Clavel, Sofia & Wagenblast, Thorid & Filatova, Tatiana, 2023. "Farmers’ Incremental and Transformational Climate Change Adaptation in Different Regions: A Natural Language Processing Comparative Literature Review," SocArXiv 3dp5e, Center for Open Science.
    13. Hee Jin Yang & Heeyeun Yoon, 2021. "Revealing an Integrative Mechanism of Cognition, Emotion, and Heat-Protective Action of Older Adults," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-12, March.
    14. Odou, Philippe & Schill, Marie, 2020. "How anticipated emotions shape behavioral intentions to fight climate change," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 243-253.
    15. Minou Ella Mebane & Maura Benedetti & Daniela Barni & Donata Francescato, 2023. "Promoting Climate Change Awareness with High School Students for a Sustainable Community," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-15, July.
    16. Kerstin Katharina Zander & Duy Nguyen & Stephen Thomas Garnett, 2025. "A decade of German heatwave data reveals shift in local impact perception," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 30(5), pages 1-26, June.
    17. Eun-Young Lee & Asaduzzaman Khan, 2020. "Prevalence and Clustering Patterns of Pro-Environmental Behaviors among Canadian Households in the Era of Climate Change," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-14, October.
    18. Sabrina K. Beckmann & Michael Hiete, 2020. "Predictors Associated with Health-Related Heat Risk Perception of Urban Citizens in Germany," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-11, January.
    19. Fadly Syah Arsad & Rozita Hod & Norfazilah Ahmad & Mazni Baharom & Fredolin Tangang, 2022. "The Malay-Version Knowledge, Risk Perception, Attitude and Practice Questionnaire on Heatwaves: Development and Construct Validation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-11, February.
    20. Melissa K. Merry & Rodger A. Payne, 2024. "Climate fatalism, partisan cues, and support for the Inflation Reduction Act," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 57(2), pages 379-402, June.

    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:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:4:p:3637-:d:1072777. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.