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Sustainable consumption behavior of Europeans: the influence of environmental knowledge and risk perception on environmental concern and behavioral intention
Publikationstyp
Journal Article
Date Issued
2021-11
Sprache
English
Author(s)
Journal
Volume
189
Issue
107155
Start Page
1
End Page
14
Article Number
107155
Citation
Ecological Economics 189 : 107155 (2021-11)
Publisher DOI
Scopus ID
Publisher
Elsevier Science
Peer Reviewed
true
This study explores how environmental knowledge and risk perception influence individuals' sustainable consumption behavior through the mediation of environmental concern and behavioral intention. The study combines constructs from earlier studies to form a novel theoretical model, which is tested and validated with an open data set from the Environment III 2010 module, which was collected by the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP). Our sample consists of respondents from nine countries (N = 11,675) in the European Union (EU) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). The model indicates that environmental risk perception and environmental knowledge impact environmental concern significantly. Furthermore, environmental concern strongly influences behavioral intention, and these constructs, in turn, act as mediators of sustainable consumption behavior. The findings indicate that in Europe, sustainable consumption behavior can be associated with environmental concern, which is influenced by increased levels of environmental knowledge and environmental risk perception. The results provide a basis for future analyses once the Environment IV module is released. This will be of particular importance for tracking possible changes in the sustainable consumption behavior of Europeans when transitioning to a green and circular economy that is driven by the European Green Deal and EU Circular Economy Action Plan.
Subjects
Sustainable consumption behavior
Behavioral intention
Environmental concern
Environmental risk perception
Environmental knowledge
PLS-SEM
DDC Class
330: Wirtschaft
370: Erziehung, Schul- und Bildungswesen
Funding Organisations
European Consortium of Innovative Universities (ECIU)
More Funding Information
The work was only partly funded by the ECIU (European Consortium of Innovative Universities) Research Mobility Fund, which enabled Ulla Saari to work as a visiting researcher at the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH).