Abstract
Understanding the determinants of pro-environmental behaviour is key to addressing many environmental challenges. Economic theory and empirical evidence suggest that human behaviour is partly determined by people's economic preferences which therefore should predict individual differences in pro-environmental behaviour. In a pre-registered study, we elicit seven preference measures (risk taking, patience, present bias, altruism, positive reciprocity, negative reciprocity, and trust) and test whether they predict pro-environmental behaviour in everyday life measured using the day reconstruction method. We find that only altruism is significantly associated with everyday pro-environmental behaviour. This suggests that pro-social aspects of everyday pro-environmental behaviour are more salient to people than the riskiness and intertemporal structure of these behaviours. We also show in an exploratory analysis that different clusters of everyday pro-environmental behaviours are predicted by patience, positive reciprocity, and altruism, indicating that these considerations are relevant for some, but not other, pro-environmental behaviours.
Highlights
It is essential to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels to decrease the risk of irreversible climate change and loss of ecosystems (Hoegh-Guldberg et al, 2018)
This paper presented a pre-registered test of whether seven economic preference measures predict pro-environmental behaviours in everyday life
Our main result is that altruism is the only preference that is systematically associated with pro-environmental behaviour measured in everyday life, predicting the extent of engagement in pro-environmental behaviour as well as the general tendency to act pro-environmentally and past green investments
Summary
It is essential to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels to decrease the risk of irreversible climate change and loss of ecosystems (Hoegh-Guldberg et al, 2018). Of particular importance is the encouragement of pro-environmental behaviours in people’s everyday lives (Hoegh-Guldberg et al, 2018; Ockwell, Whitmarsh, & O’Neill, 2009; OECD, 2017; Stern, 2007). Economics and other social sciences assume that individual differences in people’s tendencies to take risks, delay rewards, and act pro-socially can explain why people behave differently. Economics formalises these factors as individual risk, time, and social preferences (DellaVigna, 2018). The present paper tests whether individual economic preferences predict pro-environmental behaviour in everyday life
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
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 call
