Perceived responsibility to address climate change consistently relates to increased pro-environmental attitudes, behaviors and policy support: Evidence across 23 countries

Abstract

Extant theoretical and empirical work posits that perceptions of responsibility are crucial antecedents of pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. However, the degree to which this association exists reliably, across nations, and across different proenvironmental outcomes (self-reports of attitudes, beliefs, behaviors and policy support), as well as the degree to which national-level factors influence variability in such perceptions, has received less attention. To shed light on this inquiry, we utilized data from the eighth round of the European Social Survey, collected across 23 countries (N = 44,387). Utilizing multilevel and meta-analytical regressions we find that perceived responsibility to address climate change relates to 10 different pro-environmental outcomes. This association was seemingly stronger and more consistent for climate change beliefs (i.e., anthropogenic causes, acceptance, concern), proenvironmental policy support, and behavioral intentions, but not for knowledge-specific beliefs, such as the use of (non-)renewable energy. Further, 12% of variance in perceived responsibility to address climate change was explained by national factors. We conclude that additional cross-national and experimental work is required to better understand the (causal) influence of perceptions of responsibility on proenvironmental behaviors and the degree to which national factors influence this association.