Barriers to enduring pro-environmental behaviour change among Chinese students returning home from the UK: a social practice perspective

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper explores the phenomenon of international student migration, as a potential site for pro-environmental behaviour change. It draws on qualitative focus group data collected from a sample of Chinese people who had studied in the UK and since returned to China. The findings show that living in the UK led to spillover of some pro-environmental behaviours, but most of these changes were not sustained upon return to China. Employing a framework from social practice, the findings show that the desire to ‘fit in’ with the social norms of a host country are powerful in creating change, without requiring normative engagement with sustainability. However, the findings also suggest that behavioural change will not endure after short-term migration without supportive social norms and where there are barriers to pro-environmental behaviours in the home country. The paper highlights what those specific barriers might be in contemporary China, with reference to cultural traditions of ‘mianzi’ and ‘guanxi’, government discourses which do not prioritise individual agency, and an absence of post-materialist values.