Dragons in action: Psychological barriers as mediators of the relationship between environmental value orientation and pro-environmental behaviour

Abstract

This study investigates to what extent the 'green gap,' i.e., the disconnection between environmental values and pro-environmental behaviour, can be explained by various perceived psychological barriers. A large representative sample of Slovak participants (N = 1233) filled in several measures of environmental value orientation, perceived psychological barriers and self-reported pro-environmental behaviour. The parallel mediation models revealed that environmental value orientation predicts engagement in pro-environmental behaviour, and this relationship is partially mediated by certain psychological barriers, yet the role of the specific barriers varied substantially with different types of behaviour. Overall, however, the explained variance in pro-environmental behaviour was relatively modest (up to 31%), suggesting the presence of other important social, psychological, and structural variables as predictors in this regard. Our findings emphasize the intricate role of psychological barriers and demographic factors in shaping environmental actions. Understanding these complexities can help design targeted interventions to bridge the 'green gap' effectively.