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The influence mechanism of environmental anxiety on pro‐environmental behaviour: The role of self‐discrepancy
Author(s) -
Gao Jian,
Zhao Jing,
Wang Jianguo,
Wang Jianming
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international journal of consumer studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.775
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1470-6431
pISSN - 1470-6423
DOI - 10.1111/ijcs.12604
Subject(s) - affect (linguistics) , mechanism (biology) , psychology , anxiety , environmental pollution , structural equation modeling , social psychology , communication , environmental protection , environmental science , philosophy , statistics , mathematics , epistemology , psychiatry
Environmental anxiety (EA) caused by environmental pollution has prompted consumers to change their behaviour towards greener, lower‐carbon and environmentally friendly. However, its boundary conditions and internal mechanisms are still unclear. With two experiments based on attentional control theory and self‐discrepancy theory, this study aimed to explore the influence mechanism of EA on PEB. In Experiment 1, it was found that environmental anxiety can directly and significantly affect Pro‐environmental behaviour intention (PEBI). In Experiment 2, it was found that at high levels of self‐discrepancy, EA can directly and significantly affect compensatory PEBI, and guilt can play a significant mediating role in the effect of EA on compensatory PEBI. However, EA does not significantly affect promotional PEBI. At low levels of self‐discrepancy, EA can directly and significantly affect promotional PEBI but cannot affect compensatory PEBI. Therefore, we concluded that the same PEB could have different psychological mechanisms in different contexts.