The impact of different regulation policies on promoting green consumption behavior based on social network modeling

Abstract

To alleviate the situation of resources constraints and ecological pressure, it is of great practical significance to strengthen government regulation of green consumption behavior. This paper used the policy simulation method and developed a dynamic decision-making model based on social network. Simulation experiments were used to evaluate the effects of order-based regulation (government subsidy and green product certification system) and emotion-based regulation (publicity and education and social discussion) on green consumption behavior, respectively. The results show that: (1) Green consumption behavior under the influence of order-based regulation evolves to a steady state more quickly than emotion-based regulation. (2) Green consumption subsidies and green product certification both effectively promote green consumption behavior. Still, when the subsidies reach a certain amount, green consumption behavior will not change much. (3) Publicity and education can increase the rate of consumers with positive attitudes in the initial consumer network, but the implementation proportion of green consumer behavior increases slowly if the intensity exceeds a certain threshold. In addition, strengthening social discussion is needed at the initial stage, but the intervention effect is somewhat weakened at the later stage. On this basis, this study proposes that both two types of regulation policies should be rationally used. This study provides new enlightenment for the promotion of green consumption behavior under government regulation.