IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i3p933-d1574790.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Psychological Mechanisms of Education for Sustainable Development: Environmental Attitudes, Self-Efficacy, and Social Norms as Mediators of Pro-Environmental Behavior Among University Students

Author

Listed:
  • Jianyang Zhang

    (Faculty of Arts, University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand)

  • Aochen Cao

    (School of Economics, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 102206, China)

Abstract

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has been widely promoted as a key strategy for fostering pro-environmental behavior, yet the psychological mechanisms underlying its effectiveness remain inadequately understood. This study investigates how ESD participation influences pro-environmental behavior through the mediating roles of environmental attitudes, environmental self-efficacy, and social norm perceptions. Using structural equation modeling with data from 500 university students, we tested a comprehensive model integrating these psychological pathways. Environmental attitudes, mediating 56% of the effects, emerged as the strongest factor, followed by social norm perceptions (27%) and environmental self-efficacy (17%). These findings demonstrate full mediation through these psychological mechanisms, suggesting that ESD’s effectiveness depends on its ability to transform students’ environmental attitudes, strengthen their self-efficacy beliefs, and foster supportive social norms. These results contribute to both the theoretical understanding and practical implementation of ESD by highlighting the relative importance of different psychological pathways and suggesting targeted strategies for enhancing educational interventions. This study provides evidence-based insights for educators and policymakers seeking to design more effective sustainability education programs in higher education settings.

Suggested Citation

  • Jianyang Zhang & Aochen Cao, 2025. "The Psychological Mechanisms of Education for Sustainable Development: Environmental Attitudes, Self-Efficacy, and Social Norms as Mediators of Pro-Environmental Behavior Among University Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-25, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:3:p:933-:d:1574790
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/3/933/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/3/933/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Diego Bonilla-Jurado & Ember Zumba & Araceli Lucio-Quintana & Carlos Yerbabuena-Torres & Andrea Ramírez-Casco & Cesar Guevara, 2024. "Advancing University Education: Exploring the Benefits of Education for Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-27, September.
    2. Farrow, Katherine & Grolleau, Gilles & Ibanez, Lisette, 2017. "Social Norms and Pro-environmental Behavior: A Review of the Evidence," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 1-13.
    3. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    4. Susan Hanisch & Dustin Eirdosh, 2023. "Behavioral Science and Education for Sustainable Development: Towards Metacognitive Competency," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-30, April.
    5. Karine Nyborg, 2018. "Social Norms and the Environment," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 10(1), pages 405-423, October.
    6. Farrow, Katherine & Grolleau, Gilles & Ibanez, Lisette, 2017. "Social Norms and Pro-environmental Behavior: A Review of the Evidence," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 1-13.
    7. Serena Lidia Colombo & Salvatore Gaetano Chiarella & Antonino Raffone & Luca Simione, 2023. "Understanding the Environmental Attitude-Behaviour Gap: The Moderating Role of Dispositional Mindfulness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-12, April.
    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. Astrid Dannenberg & Gunnar Gutsche & Marlene Batzke & Sven Christens & Daniel Engler & Fabian Mankat & Sophia Moeller & Eva Weingaertner & Andreas Ernst & Marcel Lumkowsky & Georg von Wangenheim & Ger, 2022. "The effects of norms on environmental behavior," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202219, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    2. Bähr, Tobias & Bernal-Escobar, Adriana & Wollni, Meike, 2025. "Can payments-for-ecosystem-services change social norms?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    3. Philippe Coent & Raphaële Préget & Sophie Thoyer, 2021. "Farmers Follow the Herd: A Theoretical Model on Social Norms and Payments for Environmental Services," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 78(2), pages 287-306, February.
    4. Phu Nguyen-Van & Anne Stenger & Tuyen Tiet, 2021. "Social incentive factors in interventions promoting sustainable behaviors: A meta-analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(12), pages 1-27, December.
    5. Yanjie Li & Guanfeng Yan, 2025. "The Heterogeneity in the Relationships Between Psychological Drivers and Construction and Demolition Waste Management Intention and Behaviors Among Tunnel Construction Managers: Insights from Personal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-24, March.
    6. Heinz, Nicolai & Koessler, Ann-Kathrin, 2021. "Other-regarding preferences and pro-environmental behaviour: An interdisciplinary review of experimental studies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    7. Murat Okumah & Julia Martin-Ortega & Paula Novo & Pippa J. Chapman, 2020. "Revisiting the Determinants of Pro-Environmental Behaviour to Inform Land Management Policy: A Meta-Analytic Structural Equation Model Application," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-33, April.
    8. Ropret Homar, Aja & Knežević Cvelbar, Ljubica, 2021. "The effects of framing on environmental decisions: A systematic literature review," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    9. Hao-Fan Chumg & Jia-Wen Shi & Kai-Jun Sun, 2019. "Why Employees Contribute to Pro-Environmental Behaviour: The Role of Pluralistic Ignorance in Chinese Society," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-22, December.
    10. Vu, Ha Thu & Tran, Duc & Goto, Daisaku & Kawata, Keisuke, 2020. "Does experience sharing affect farmers’ pro-environmental behavior? A randomized controlled trial in Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    11. Martin Binder & Ann-Kathrin Blankenberg & Heinz Welsch, 2020. "Pro-environmental Norms, Green Lifestyles, and Subjective Well-Being: Panel Evidence from the UK," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 152(3), pages 1029-1060, December.
    12. Blankenberg, Ann-Kathrin & Alhusen, Harm, 2019. "On the determinants of pro-environmental behavior: A literature review and guide for the empirical economist," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 350, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics, revised 2019.
    13. Kirubaharan Boobalan & Nishad Nawaz & Harindranath R. M. & Vijayakumar Gajenderan, 2021. "Influence of Altruistic Motives on Organic Food Purchase: Theory of Planned Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-14, May.
    14. Welsch, Heinz, 2022. "Do social norms trump rational choice in voluntary climate change mitigation? Multi-country evidence of social tipping points," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    15. Luisa Corrado & Andrea Fazio & Alessandra Pelloni, 2020. "Pro-environmental attitudes, local environmental conditions and recycling behavior," Working Paper series 20-21, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis, revised Nov 2021.
    16. Mi, Lingyun & Gan, Xiaoli & Sun, Yuhuan & Lv, Tao & Qiao, Lijie & Xu, Ting, 2021. "Effects of monetary and nonmonetary interventions on energy conservation: A meta-analysis of experimental studies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    17. Valentina Carfora & Giulia Buscicchio & Patrizia Catellani, 2021. "Integrating Personal and Pro-Environmental Motives to Explain Italian Women’s Purchase of Sustainable Clothing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-22, September.
    18. Engler, Daniel & Gutsche, Gunnar & Simixhiu, Amantia & Ziegler, Andreas, 2025. "Social norms and individual climate protection activities: A survey experiment for Germany," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    19. Czajkowski, Mikołaj & Zagórska, Katarzyna & Hanley, Nick, 2019. "Social norm nudging and preferences for household recycling," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    20. Cong, Rong-Gang & Thomsen, Marianne, 2021. "Review of ecosystem services in a bio-based circular economy and governance mechanisms," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:3:p:933-:d:1574790. 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.