IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i8p6572-d1122207.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

I Can Feel Your Pain: Investigating the Role of Empathy and Guilt on Sustainable Behavioral Intentions to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle Plastic Bags among College Students

Author

Listed:
  • Zhuxuan Yan

    (School of Communication, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA)

  • Juliann Cortese

    (School of Communication, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA)

Abstract

Plastic bag pollution in the marine environment is an urgent issue that has negatively impacted the sustainability of marine biodiversity. Studying effective ways to design advocacy messages that can promote individuals’ intentions to reduce, reuse, and recycle plastic bags in order to mitigate plastic bag pollution in the effort to help restore marine biodiversity is necessary. Utilizing emotional appeal messages, such as messages that are designed to elicit audiences’ feelings of empathy, can promote a variety of pro-environmental behaviors. To investigate an effective way to generate empathy, this online experiment study conducted with 257 college students in the U.S. examined whether messages that encourage perspective-taking can successfully elicit empathy among participants. Additionally, the study explored whether messages that encourage perspective-taking can promote viewers’ behavioral intentions to engage in the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, and recycle plastic bags) via the mediating roles of empathy and guilt. Results indicated that perspective-taking messages can increase viewers’ empathy, which was positively associated with feelings of guilt, which in turn was positively associated with viewers’ 3Rs behavioral intentions. The study also investigated the influence of self-efficacy on guilt as well as the interaction of self-efficacy and perspective-taking on guilt. Results suggested that self-efficacy did not have an effect on guilt, and the effects of self-efficacy and perspective-taking on guilt were independent of each other. These findings demonstrate that messages encouraging perspective-taking can positively affect individuals’ 3Rs behavioral intentions to reduce plastic waste as a means to restore marine biodiversity.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhuxuan Yan & Juliann Cortese, 2023. "I Can Feel Your Pain: Investigating the Role of Empathy and Guilt on Sustainable Behavioral Intentions to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle Plastic Bags among College Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-18, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:8:p:6572-:d:1122207
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/8/6572/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/8/6572/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sule Alan & Ceren Baysan & Mert Gumren & Elif Kubilay, 2021. "Building Social Cohesion in Ethnically Mixed Schools: An Intervention on Perspective Taking," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 136(4), pages 2147-2194.
    2. Bethanie Carney Almroth & Håkan Eggert, 2019. "Marine Plastic Pollution: Sources, Impacts, and Policy Issues," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 13(2), pages 317-326.
    3. Martina Bientzle & Marie Eggeling & Marie Kanzleiter & Kerstin Thieme & Joachim Kimmerle, 2021. "The impact of narrative writing on empathy, perspective-taking, and attitude: Two randomized controlled experiments on violations of Covid-19 protection regulations," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(7), pages 1-14, July.
    4. Mónica Fernández & Gisela Cebrián & Elisa Regadera & M. Yolanda Fernández, 2020. "Analysing the Relationship between University Students’ Ecological Footprint and Their Connection with Nature and Pro-Environmental Attitude," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-14, November.
    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. Zölitz, Ulf & Shan, Xiaoyue, 2022. "Peers Affect Personality Development," CEPR Discussion Papers 17241, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Zenou, Yves & Boucher, Vincent & Tumen, Semih & Vlassopoulos, Michael & Wahba, Jackline, 2020. "Ethnic Mixing in Early Childhood: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment and a Structural Model," CEPR Discussion Papers 15528, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Mehmood, Sultan & Naseer, Shaheen & Chen, Daniel L., 2022. "Training Effective Altruism," TSE Working Papers 22-1390, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    4. Ferguson,Neil T. N. & Wolfe,Rebecca J. & Amine,Laila & Ramadi,Eric & Shahin,Lina, 2022. "Building Stability Between Host and Refugee Communities : Evidence from a TVET Program inJordan and Lebanon," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10101, The World Bank.
    5. Simon Briole & Marc Gurgand & Eric Maurin & Sandra McNally & Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela & Daniel Santin, 2022. "The making of civic virtues: a school-based experiment in three countries," CEP Discussion Papers dp1830, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    6. Xiaowei Ni & Yongbo Quan, 2023. "Measuring the Sustainable Development of Marine Economy Based on the Entropy Value Method: A Case Study in the Yangtze River Delta, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-16, April.
    7. Rumana Hossain & Md Tasbirul Islam & Riya Shanker & Debishree Khan & Katherine Elizabeth Sarah Locock & Anirban Ghose & Heinz Schandl & Rita Dhodapkar & Veena Sahajwalla, 2022. "Plastic Waste Management in India: Challenges, Opportunities, and Roadmap for Circular Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-34, April.
    8. Duc-Nam Luu & Magali Barbaroux & Gaelle Dorez & Katell Mignot & Estelle Doger & Achille Laurent & Jean-Michel Brossard & Claus-Jürgen Maier, 2022. "Recycling of Post-Use Bioprocessing Plastic Containers—Mechanical Recycling Technical Feasibility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-18, November.
    9. Bhargava, Palaash & Chen, Daniel L. & Sutter, Matthias & Terrier, Camille, 2022. "Homophily and Transmission of Behavioral Traits in Social Networks," IZA Discussion Papers 15840, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Grosch, Kerstin & Haeckl, Simone & Rau, Holger & Preuss, Paul, 2023. "A Guide to Conducting School Experiments: Expert Insights and Best Practices for Effective Implementation," UiS Working Papers in Economics and Finance 2023/2, University of Stavanger.
    11. Höckel, Lisa Sofie & Schilling, Pia, 2022. "Starting off on the right foot: Language learning classes and the educational success of immigrant children," Ruhr Economic Papers 983, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    12. Sule Alan & Elif Bodur & Elif Kubilay & Ipek Mumcu, 2021. "Social Status in Student Networks and Implications for Perceived Social Climate in Schools," CESifo Working Paper Series 9095, CESifo.
    13. Anjali Adukia & Alex Eble & Emileigh Harrison & Hakizumwami Birali Runesha & Teodora Szasz, 2023. "What We Teach About Race and Gender: Representation in Images and Text of Children’s Books," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 138(4), pages 2225-2285.
    14. Ana Torres & Paula Carvalho & Jorge Costa & Claudia Silva & Rosa Marina Afonso & Carla Nascimento & Manuel Loureiro, 2023. "Environmental Connection, Awareness, and Behaviors in University Students: An Exploratory Portuguese Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-15, September.
    15. Tumen, Semih & Vlassopoulos, Michael & Wahba, Jackline, 2021. "Training Teachers for Diversity Awareness: Impact on School Attendance of Refugee Children," IZA Discussion Papers 14557, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Lelys Dinarte-Diaz, 2024. "Peer Effects on Violence: Experimental Evidence from El Salvador," CESifo Working Paper Series 10975, CESifo.
    17. De la O, Ana & Rossel, Cecilia & Manzi, Pilar, 2023. "Opting Out from Public Services and the Social Contract in Latin America," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 13285, Inter-American Development Bank.
    18. Alexandra de Gendre & Jan Feld & Nicolás Salamanca & Ulf Zölitz, 2023. "Same-sex role model effects in education," ECON - Working Papers 438, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    19. Hirotaka Kumamaru & Kenji Takeuchi, 2023. "The recycled content of plastic products: estimating the impact of a recycling law on the input mix," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 25(3), pages 355-376, July.
    20. Sule Alan & Enes Duysak & Elif Kubilay & Ipek Mumcu, 2023. "Social Exclusion and Ethnic Segregation in Schools: The Role of Teachers' Ethnic Prejudice," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 105(5), pages 1039-1054, September.

    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:15:y:2023:i:8:p:6572-:d:1122207. 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.