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How climate-friendly behavior relates to moral identity and identity-protective cognition: Evidence from the European social surveys

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  • Welsch, Heinz

Abstract

The paper studies the role for climate-friendly behavior of individuals' moral identity, conceptualized in terms of the moral foundations identified by moral psychologists (Care, Fairness, Liberty, Loyalty, Authority, and Sanctity). Two relationships are distinguished: a direct relationship between moral identity and behavior at given cognitions of climate change impacts and effectiveness of individual action, and an indirect relationship through an association between moral identity and these cognitions. Using data from the European Social Surveys, the paper finds that endorsement of the individual-focused (universalist) moral foundations (Care, Fairness, Liberty) and endorsement of the group-focused (parochial) moral foundations (Loyalty, Authority, Sanctity) are both related to climate friendly behavior through the direct channel, the former 1.5 times stronger than the latter. In addition, individual-focused moral foundations are related to climate-friendly behavior through their association with the cognition of bad impacts of climate change and of effectiveness of own action. The indirect relationships amount to up to one third of the direct relationships. While being of a correlational nature, the findings are consistent with the idea that individuals' moral identity may influence climate-friendly behavior both directly and indirectly, by shaping behavior-relevant cognitions.

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  • Welsch, Heinz, 2021. "How climate-friendly behavior relates to moral identity and identity-protective cognition: Evidence from the European social surveys," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:185:y:2021:i:c:s0921800921000847
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.107026
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    Cited by:

    1. Welsch, Heinz, 2022. "Do social norms trump rational choice in voluntary climate change mitigation? Multi-country evidence of social tipping points," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    2. Bei Liu & Hong Chen & Shiyan Jiang & Qingqing Sun, 2021. "Why Can’t I Work in a Green Way? Research on the Influencing Mechanism of Employees’ Labor Intentions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-13, October.
    3. Mavisakalyan, Astghik & Sharma, Swati & Weber, Clas, 2024. "Pro-environmental behavior and subjective well-being: Culture has a role to play," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    4. Jens Horbach, 2024. "Green energy transition in Europe: Importance and behaviour of private households," SEEDS Working Papers 0224, SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies, revised Feb 2024.
    5. Heinz Welsch, 2022. "What shapes cognitions of climate change in Europe? Ideology, morality, and the role of educational attainment," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 12(2), pages 386-395, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Climate-friendly behavior; Moral identity; Climate change cognition; Moral Foundations;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods

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