Enriching the understanding of the gap between climate change belief and intention to perform mitigation behavior using a goal perspective

Abstract

In the literature, researchers often assume that climate change belief has the direct potential to promote people’s behavioral intention and actual engagement in mitigation behavior. However, empirical evidence casts doubt on this assumption, as climate change belief sometimes fails to influence behavioral intention. The gap between climate change belief and behavioral intention represents a significant obstacle to climate change mitigation. This dissertation addresses this belief-intention gap by using the goal perspective. Specifically, I propose that mitigation behavior is a set of means choices for individuals to achieve the goal of mitigating climate change. When they consider this goal to be important (i.e., goal importance), they develop an intention to engage in a set of goal-directed behaviors (i.e., mitigation behavior). Accordingly, the relationship between climate change belief and behavioral intention can be regarded as a goal attainment process, which can be broken down into the goal adoption process and the means selection process. I propose that a gap may arise when (1) climate change belief does not promote the adoption of climate change mitigation goals and (2) individuals do not prefer certain kinds of mitigation behavior in pursuing this goal. With data from three sets of empirical studies, I present evidence to support these two accounts. Study 1 confirmed the mediating mechanism of goal importance in explaining the relationship between climate change belief and behavioral intention. Study 2 demonstrated that experience of goal conflict and lack of faith in climate change mitigation hindered the association between climate change belief and goal importance, in turn widening the belief-intention gap. Finally, Study 3 indicated that behavioral intention varied across both types of behavior and individuals; individuals preferred instrumental and normative behavioral choices when they considered the goal to be highly important and had a strong need for cognitive closure. Findings from the present research contribute to understanding the gap between belief and intention as well as the factors that enlarge or reduce this gap. It also offers insight into pro-environmental behavior and the attitude-behavior gap. Finally, it bears practical implications for encouraging people to engage in climate change mitigation.

Date of Award	2018
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology