IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i5p2616-d508389.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Challenges of Mitigating Climate Change Hidden in End-User Beliefs and Expectations

Author

Listed:
  • Gerda Žigienė

    (Faculty of Economics and Business, Kaunas University of Technology, Gedimino Str. 50, LT-44239 Kaunas, Lithuania)

  • Egidijus Rybakovas

    (Faculty of Economics and Business, Kaunas University of Technology, Gedimino Str. 50, LT-44239 Kaunas, Lithuania)

  • Edita Gimžauskienė

    (Faculty of Economics and Business, Kaunas University of Technology, Gedimino Str. 50, LT-44239 Kaunas, Lithuania)

  • Vaidas Gaidelys

    (Faculty of Economics and Business, Kaunas University of Technology, Gedimino Str. 50, LT-44239 Kaunas, Lithuania)

Abstract

This research explores the potential challenges of reducing climate change hidden in the personal and collective energy use-related beliefs and expectations of end users. The study proposes a new typology of social environments, using the concept of personal and collective efficacy, which is suitable for exploring the level and nature of the challenges of solving social problems that require engaging whole societies. We use empirical data from round eight of the European Social Survey, which covers more than 20 European countries, and we employ the basic statistical methods of descriptive statistics, linear correlation and population proportion. The findings suggest that the challenges to climate-change mitigation by changing energy-use behaviour could be hidden in contradictions between beliefs in personal and collective abilities to contribute and positive outcome expectations. This opportunity could be addressed by relevant policy measures, providing more evidence of positive outcomes, even from personal contributions, and developing suitable means for collective contributions to increase awareness and belief in collective engagement.

Suggested Citation

  • Gerda Žigienė & Egidijus Rybakovas & Edita Gimžauskienė & Vaidas Gaidelys, 2021. "The Challenges of Mitigating Climate Change Hidden in End-User Beliefs and Expectations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-38, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:5:p:2616-:d:508389
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/5/2616/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/5/2616/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Atsushi Watabe & Simon Gilby, 2020. "To See a World in a Grain of Sand—The Transformative Potential of Small Community Actions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-19, September.
    2. Shane Fudge & Michael Peters, 2011. "Behaviour Change in the UK Climate Debate: An Assessment of Responsibility, Agency and Political Dimensions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 3(6), pages 1-20, June.
    3. Zachary Oliphant & Chae M. Jaynes & Richard K. Moule Jr., 2020. "Social Preferences and Environmental Behavior: A Comparison of Self-Reported and Observed Behaviors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-16, July.
    4. repec:cup:judgdm:v:3:y:2008:i:8:p:595-606 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. van den Bergh, Jeroen C. J. M. & Ferrer-i-Carbonell, Ada & Munda, Giuseppe, 2000. "Alternative models of individual behaviour and implications for environmental policy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 43-61, January.
    6. Dan Thorman & Lorraine Whitmarsh & Christina Demski, 2020. "Policy Acceptance of Low-Consumption Governance Approaches: The Effect of Social Norms and Hypocrisy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-25, February.
    7. Robert Easterling, 2015. "There's Nothing Wrong With Clopper-Pearson Binomial Confidence Limits," The American Statistician, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 69(2), pages 154-155, May.
    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. Ficko, Andrej & Boncina, Andrej, 2013. "Probabilistic typology of management decision making in private forest properties," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 34-43.
    2. Bardsley, Nicholas & Büchs, Milena & James, Patrick & Papafragkou, Anastasios & Rushby, Thomas & Saunders, Clare & Smith, Graham & Wallbridge, Rebecca & Woodman, Nicholas, 2019. "Domestic thermal upgrades, community action and energy saving: A three-year experimental study of prosperous households," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 475-485.
    3. Peter Wheale & David Hinton, 2007. "Ethical consumers in search of markets," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(4), pages 302-315, May.
    4. van den Bergh, Jeroen C.J.M., 2010. "Externality or sustainability economics?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(11), pages 2047-2052, September.
    5. Jeroen C.J.M. van den Bergh, 2014. "Sustainable development in ecological economics," Chapters, in: Giles Atkinson & Simon Dietz & Eric Neumayer & Matthew Agarwala (ed.), Handbook of Sustainable Development, chapter 3, pages 41-54, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Innocent Bakam & Robin Matthews, 2009. "Emission trading in agriculture: a study of design options using an agent-based approach," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 14(8), pages 755-776, December.
    7. Janssen, Marco A. & Jager, Wander, 2000. "Preface," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 307-310, December.
    8. Pienkowski, Dariusz, 2009. "Selfishness, cooperation, the evolutionary point of view and its implications for economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 335-344, December.
    9. Angelo Antoci & Simone Borghesi & Gerardo Marletto, 2012. "To drive or not to drive? A simple evolutionary model," ECONOMICS AND POLICY OF ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2012(2), pages 31-47.
    10. Nguyen-Van, Phu & Pham, Thi Kim Cuong, 2013. "Endogenous fiscal policies, environmental quality, and status-seeking behavior," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 32-40.
    11. Venkatachalam, L., 2008. "Behavioral economics for environmental policy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(4), pages 640-645, November.
    12. Jeroen Van den Bergh & Frans Oosterhuis, 2005. "An Evolutionary Economic Analysis of Energy Transitions," ERSA conference papers ersa05p823, European Regional Science Association.
    13. Collentine, Dennis & Larsson, Martin & Hannerz, Nils, 2004. "Exploiting decision heuristics and IT in the design of a DSS for voluntary agri-environmental programs," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 303-315, July.
    14. Jackson, Tim, 2002. "Evolutionary psychology in ecological economics: consilience, consumption and contentment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 289-303, May.
    15. Wilson, Matthew A. & Howarth, Richard B., 2002. "Discourse-based valuation of ecosystem services: establishing fair outcomes through group deliberation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 431-443, June.
    16. Doukas, Haris, 2013. "Modelling of linguistic variables in multicriteria energy policy support," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 227(2), pages 227-238.
    17. Luzzati, Tommaso & Tucci, Ilaria & Guarnieri, Pietro, 2022. "Information overload and environmental degradation: Learning from H.A. Simon and W. Wenders," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    18. Schubert, Christian, 2017. "Green nudges: Do they work? Are they ethical?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 329-342.
    19. Jeroen Bergh, 2007. "Evolutionary thinking in environmental economics," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 17(5), pages 521-549, October.
    20. Christos Zografos & Richard B. Howarth, 2010. "Deliberative Ecological Economics for Sustainability Governance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 2(11), pages 1-19, October.

    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:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:5:p:2616-:d:508389. 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.