What Drives Urban Residents to Participate in the Carbon Generalized System of Preferences? A Value Co-Creation Perspective

The Carbon Generalized System of Preferences (CGSP), theoretically rooted in value co-creation, serves as a vital policy tool for household carbon mitigation, yet faces an awareness-behavior gap during implementation. In this study, theoretical and empirical analyses were conducted to reveal the dual-pathway mechanism underlying the residents’ participation in the CGSP. The findings demonstrate that the residents’ participation behavior is positively influenced by the two-way communication between government and residents, as well as the residents’ sense of responsibility. Specifically, these two factors can also enhance participation by fostering egoistic and altruistic values, respectively. Notably, face culture weakens the positive effects of both values on participation, which embodies the paradigm conflict between traditional cultural and modern environmental governance systems. Residents with higher work happiness and women demonstrate significantly higher participation rates. The findings yield three policy recommendations for enhancing CGSP participation and operational sustainability.