Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic and climate change issues present evident interdependencies which justify the spread of connected beliefs. We examine possible changes in individuals’ pro-environmental behavior in light of this pandemic, using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) framework. A questionnaire survey was submitted to the same sample of individuals, before and during the pandemic. Our evidence, based on Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has not led to a weakening in TPB construct relationships, or in related Pro-Environmental Behavior (PEB). Conversely, through our Partial Least Squares-Multi-Group Analysis (PLS-MGA), we show that individuals with greater awareness of interdependencies between the COVID-19 and climate change exhibit both higher Intention and reinforced Pro-Environmental Behaviors. This finding reveals interesting policy implications in terms of innovative behavioral drivers that should be employed to steer public support towards climate-oriented initiatives.
Highlights
For some years climate change issues have become increasingly prominent in the international public debate and in political agendas
We ran an independence test to show that the pre- and post-COVID-19 samples are non-statistically different; this allows us to assume that differences between samples are mainly due to the pandemic situation
To the best of our knowledge, no existing study has addressed if and how individuals have changed their Pro-Environmental Behavior because of the spread of beliefs induced by the COVID-19 pandemic using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) framework; this represents the main contribution of our research
Summary
Climate change issues have become increasingly prominent in the international public debate and in political agendas. The fact remains that, since individuals perceive a psychological distance [10,11,12] between climate change and their own personal surroundings, this issue will continue to be considered of secondary importance in comparison to other priorities in people’s daily lives [7]. This aspect becomes even more evident when pro-environmental behavior is hindered by catastrophic events, when emergency situations may lead people to review their perceptions of priorities
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
