Crucial to Me and my society: How collectivist culture influences individual pro-environmental behavior through environmental values

Abstract

While numerous studies have verified the norm-sustainability relationship, few have delved deeply into this set of relationships. To address this research gap, this study theoretically analyzes the roles of collectivist culture and individual self-construal in the norm-sustainability relationship in the Asian context. Drawing on the value-basis theory and the competitive altruism hypothesis and employing cultural data from an Asian context with hierarchical regression analysis, empirical findings indicate that collectivist culture positively promotes pro-environmental behavior, with altruistic values and biospheric values mediating this positive relationship. At the same time, individual socioeconomic status positively moderates the norm-sustainability relationship. The theoretical contribution of this study lies in theoretically identifying collectivist culture as a deep-seated cultural factor triggering the norm-sustainability relationship in the Asian context. Examining the moderating role of self-construal in the norm-sustainability relationship sheds light on the reasons for the gap between individual pro-environmental behavioral intentions and actions in the Asian context. Lastly, this study provides a new cultural perspective for understanding the formation of biospheric values. Policy implications suggest a focus on the collective atmosphere of collectivism in Asia to stimulate individual environmental responsibility alongside the cultivation of rational environmental perspectives to balance participation across socioeconomic strata in societal and economic development.