Individuals’ intentions to mitigate air pollution: Vehicles, household appliances, and religious practices

Abstract

While combating air pollution may seem to be a corporate responsibility, what individuals contribute can be substantial. This study explores the individual's behavioral intention to reduce the air pollution associated with vehicles, household appliances, and religious practices. An extended theory of planned behavior (TPB), past behavior included, serves as the analytical model, while the approach of partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is employed in the model's estimation. The results show that subjective norms represent the primary driver of individual intentions to reduce air pollution, followed by perceived behavioral control, past behavior, and attitude, in that order. Surprisingly, advocacy on the part of the government to reduce the burning of incense and joss paper, disregarding years of social conflicts and protests, plays the most important role among all indicators within the construct subjective norms. This result holds even within the subsample of believers in religions that involve the practice of burning incense and joss paper.