Research On The Effect Of Environmental Self-identity On Low-carbon Behaviors Among University Students

As climate change and other environmental problems become more and more prominent around the world,resolving these issues requires everyone’s participation,and the search for effective determinants of low-carbon behaviors is now an imminent task.In recent years,there has been a notable increase in environmental concern among Chinese citizens,and yet action is still lacking.Currently,a majority of existing studies and campaigns are carried out based on rational cognitive behavioral theories,with an emphasis on behavioral attitudes and external factors.However,they are often only useful to target and account for certain specific behaviors and the actual effects are limited.In the face of these limitations,the Value-identity-personal norm model(VIP model)and related theories and practices have pointed out that self-identity as a stable factor may be able to generate more spillover effects and thus promote more pro-environmental behaviors.The current research gaps are as follows:first of all,there is still a need for both domestic and overseas researchers to dig deeper into the influence mechanism of environmental self-identity on environmental behaviors.Secondly,previous literature on the influence of environmental self-identity stresses more on the motivation stemmed from personal responsibility to care for the environment,but it has ignored the role of a sense of achievement(or warm glow),which could be one important motivation too.Besides,relevant studies on environmental self-identity have mostly targeted intrinsic motivations,while the success of promoting environmental behaviors also relies on extrinsic incentives,such as social norm.However,there is scarce evidence on how social norm might influence the intrinsic motivation mechanism.Regarding the above inefficiencies in research and with a focus on university students in China,this study proposes three questions:1)Can environmental self-identity of Chinese university students spark their low-carbon behaviors?2)What is the influence mechanism of environmental self-identity of Chinese university students on their low-carbon behaviors?3)How does social norm,as an extrinsic motivation,affect the relationship between the two internal motivations of personal norm and warm glow and low-carbon behaviors?This paper assessed and compared the VIP model and related norm-based theories,self-determination theory and warm glow theory and studies on social norms,and a theoretical model was proposed.Afterwards,by forwarding a questionnaire designed on Wenjuanxing.com to university students countrywide,I collected 460 questionnaires,377 of which are valid.The conclusions are as follows.Firstly,environmental self-identity of Chinese university students can directly and positively predict their low-carbon behaviors;secondly,environmental self-identity of university students can influence such behaviors via personal norm;thirdly,environmental self-identity of university students can also influence their own low-carbon behaviors through increasing warm glow;fourthly,environmental self-identity of university students can positively determine low-carbon behaviors through personal norm and warm glow consecutively;fifthly,the positive moderation effect of social norm on the relations between university students’ personal norm and their low-carbon behaviors is not supported;and sixthly,social norm can significantly and positively moderate the relations between university students’ warm glow and their low-carbon behaviors.The contribution of this paper lies in the new perspective provided to interpret the influence of environmental self-identity on low-carbon behaviors:the positive feelings of warm glow as a positive reward can provide individuals with a sense of achievement by voluntarily actualizing their environmental self-identity,and they feel willing to participate in low-carbon behaviors out of feeling good,and not necessarily to avoid feeling guilty.Additionally,this study proved that the VIP model is applicable in China and proposed the Identity-personal norm-warm glow model(IPW model)that is applicable to university students in China;it has also filled the research gap of studies in the domestic setting in China,especially those focused on university students.Finally,this research has provided new insights into the scholarship of environmental social norm,indicated a complex influence mechanism of social norm,and suggested new directions for future research and environmental policy practices.