Collective Efficacy Mediates the Relationship Between Perceived Social Norms and Behavioral Intention: Moderated by Uncertainty Avoidance and Issues

The resolution of many health and environmental challenges, such as infectious diseases and climate change, relies on collective efforts. However, collective efficacy has received considerably less attention in health and environmental behavior promotion compared to self-efficacy. Drawing on the focus theory of normative conduct, this study aims to explore whether perceived social norm was related to collective efficacy and whether uncertainty avoidance moderated this relationship. Additionally, this study investigated whether collective efficacy explained additional variances in engagement in health and environmental behaviors controlling for individual-level risk perceptions and efficacy appraisals. A cross-sectional survey (N = 1,849) was conducted across two issues (infectious disease and climate change) and three regions (mainland China, Hong Kong, and the United States). The results demonstrated that collective efficacy was positively associated with behavioral intention. Moreover, perceived injunctive norm was a stronger predictor of collective efficacy than descriptive norm, particularly in mainland China and Hong Kong. Finally, uncertainty avoidance generally attenuated the relationship between perceived norm and collective efficacy, although the patterns of this effect varied across issues and regions. This study provided empirical evidence on the value of collective efficacy in promoting health and environmental behaviors and explicated what affected collective efficacy from the perspective of social norm.