Increasing pro-environmental behaviors by increasing self-concordance: Testing an intervention.

Abstract

Concordance: Testing an InterventionGlobally, there is a clear need to change our behavior to mitigate climate change. Many people, however, will not find the need for mitigation important enough to make their behavior more environmentally sustainable. Three studies supported the hypothesis that it is possible to overcome this issue by connecting these behaviors to goals that are important to people, even if such goals are unrelated to climate change or the environment in general.Study 1 (N = 305 working adults) showed that stronger self-concordance of behavior related to energy sustainability was related to a greater chance of signing a petition for increasing renewable energy sources. Next, two experimental studies (Study 2: N = 412 working and non-working adults, and Study 3: N = 300 working adults) showed that increasing selfconcordance of environmentally sustainable behaviors by asking people to cognitively connect either sustainable energy use (Study 2) or commuting behaviors (Study 3) to their personal goals increased intentions to engage in these behaviors compared to a control condition (Study 2 and Study 3) and compared to persuasion attempts based on climate change mitigation (Study 3). These findings occurred even after controlling for political orientation and environmental concerns. This research has significant practical implications for workplaces, particularly for those in which employees or managers place a low priority on environmental and climate change considerations.

Rebel with a Cause: Personal Significance from Political Activism Predicts Willingness to Self‐Sacrifice

“…In general, past studies confirmed the role of values in motivating action on behalf of the cause (Liss, Crawford, & Popp, ; Miller & Krosnick, ; Unsworth & McNeill, ; Van Zomeren, Postmes, Spears, & Bettache, ). For instance, Unsworth and McNeill () showed that the degree to which environmentally sustainable behaviors serve the person's own pre‐existing values predict intentions to engage in sustainable energy behavior.…”

“…In general, past studies confirmed the role of values in motivating action on behalf of the cause (Liss, Crawford, & Popp, ; Miller & Krosnick, ; Unsworth & McNeill, ; Van Zomeren, Postmes, Spears, & Bettache, ). For instance, Unsworth and McNeill () showed that the degree to which environmentally sustainable behaviors serve the person's own pre‐existing values predict intentions to engage in sustainable energy behavior. Also, studies on moral convictions (Skitka & Bauman, ; Skitka, Bauman, & Sargis, ) and sacred values (Atran, Axelrod, & Davis, ; Atran & Ginges, ) showed that they were positively related to political engagement.…”

Addressing Behavioural Technologies Through the Human Factor: A Review

“…4) The Self-Concordance Model [15] is based on the idea that it is possible to improve the (sustainable) behaviour connecting specific behaviours with goals which are important to the individual. Although this model has been applied in another context, to the best of our knowledge there is only one related to energy efficiency: a recent study developed by Unsworth and McNeil [16] where an intervention is tested, validating the idea that connecting the goals and pro-environmental behaviour, the latter can be improved.…”

The antecedent and performance of environmental managers’ proactive pollution reduction behavior in Chinese manufacturing firms: Insight from the proactive behavior theory

“…Some studies examined the impact of specific motivation (e.g. competitive and ecological motivations, and self-concordance) on environmental proactivity or pro-environmental behaviors (Walker et al, 2014;Unsworth and McNeill, 2017), but they did not structure hypothetical models within a robust theoretical boundary in the field of individual psychology. Recent studies revealed the complex relation between GO and firm performance (Gimenez et al, 2012;Esfahbodi et al, 2016;Wijethilake, 2017).…”