A Causal Analysis for the Determinants of Pro-Environment Behavior

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of environmental knowledge, interest and behavioral intention in the prediction of pro-environmental behavior based on the social psychological perspective. A structural equation model is applied to estimate the effects of knowledge, interest, behavioral intention and cost evaluation to use the questionnaire data about 3R (i.e., reduce, reuse and recycling) and energy conservation from 500 residents in five cities. The proposed model demonstrates the importance of behavioral intention in the prediction of pro-environmental behavior and the behavioral intention decreases the cost-perception for pro-environmental behavior. The implications of the findings for promoting the behavioral intention are discussed.