The Social-Psychological Determinants of Climate Change Mitigation Intentions and Behaviours: A Domain-Context-Behaviour (DCB) Model.

Abstract

This paper advances a domain-context-behaviour (DCB) model. The DCB model structurally organises the social-psychological determinants of a wide range of climate change mitigation behaviours in three causal steps. In particular, psychological motivations are assumed to start with the development of broad pro-environmental/biospheric value orientations (i.e. the domain). These value orientations in turn predict key climate change “context” variables, including; risk perception, response-knowledge and perceived social support. A central feature of the DCB model is the notion that both mitigation intentions and behaviour-specific determinants are activated and preceded by a broader and more generally-defined orienting intention to help reduce climate change. This general intention influences specific mitigation intentions directly as well as indirectly via behaviour-specific determinants such as attitudes, perceived behavioural control and situational constraints. Mitigation behaviour is assumed to be predicted by both mitigation intentions as well as habitual processes. The model is subsequently tested and validated on a national sample of the UK population. The model constructs were surveyed in wave 1 (N=808) and self-reported behaviour was obtained in wave 2 (N=501). Overall, the DCB model explains 66% of the variance in general intentions to help reduce climate change, 57% of the variance in specific mitigation intentions and 35% of the variance in aggregate mitigation behaviour. Interesting and important differences emerge between the determinants of high-cost, high-impact and low-cost, low-impact behavioural changes.