Decoding Pro-Environmental Behaviors in China through Values and the Theory of Planned Behavior

While acknowledging its formidable consequences of climate change, individuals often treat climate change as a distant phenomenon and do not engage in pro-environmental behaviors. In light of fostering pro-environmental behaviors among the public, this study explores factors driving pro-environmental behaviors. Guided by Extended Theory of Planned Behavior (ETPB), this study introduces several values as new antecedent factors (i.e., egoistic, altruistic, and biospheric). An online survey with 267 participants was conducted through a Chinese online survey platform. The results showed that attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control are positively related to people’s intention to develop pro-environmental behavior towards climate change. Moreover, values significantly influenced pro-environmental intention, mediated by attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. Specifically, altruistic values and biospheric values exerted a positive influence on pro-environmental intention, while there was no statistically significant relationship between egoistic values and pro-environmental intention. Our findings provide a new perspective on communicating climate change information by introducing the differential effect of values.