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Envy and Environmental Decision Making: The Mediating Role of Self-Control

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  • Xinni Wei

    (Department of Psychology, School of Philosophy, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China)

  • Feng Yu

    (Department of Psychology, School of Philosophy, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China)

Abstract

Emotions have strong impacts on decision making, yet research on the association between social interpersonal emotion and environmental decisions is limited. The present study uses experimental manipulation and cross-sectional investigation to examine how envy state and personality trait envy influence environmental actions. In Study 1, participants were manipulated to elicit benign and malicious envy, and it was found that benign envy acts as an antecedent of pro-environmental behavior, while malicious envy could contribute to behavior harmful to the environment. Study 2 replicated the results of Study 1 and examined the mediator of self-control through a correlational study. Consequently, people who are high in malicious envy tend to engage in more environmentally harmful activities rather than living a sustainable life, while dispositional benign envy could significantly predict pro-environmental behavior. Moreover, the link between dispositional malicious envy and environmental behavior can be explained by trait self-control, while the mediating effect was silent in dispositional benign envy. The findings shed new light on the impact of social interpersonal emotion on making environmental decisions and its related psychological mechanisms.

Suggested Citation

  • Xinni Wei & Feng Yu, 2022. "Envy and Environmental Decision Making: The Mediating Role of Self-Control," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(2), pages 1-11, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:2:p:639-:d:719197
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Stijn M. J. van Osselaer & Chris Janiszewski, 2012. "A Goal-Based Model of Product Evaluation and Choice," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 39(2), pages 260-292.
    2. Niels Van de Ven & Marcel Zeelenberg & Rik Pieters, 2011. "The Envy Premium in Product Evaluation," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 37(6), pages 984-998.
    3. Walid Briki, 2019. "Harmed Trait Self-Control: Why Do People with a Higher Dispositional Malicious Envy Experience Lower Subjective Wellbeing? A Cross-Sectional Study," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 523-540, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Rajat Roy & Anirban Som & Vik Naidoo & Fazlul K. Rabbanee, 2024. "How Envy Encourages Beliefs in Unethical Consumer Behaviour: The Role of Religiosity and Moral Awareness," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 193(2), pages 345-361, August.
    2. Serena L. Colombo & Salvatore G. Chiarella & Camille Lefrançois & Jacques Fradin & Antonino Raffone & Luca Simione, 2023. "Why Knowing about Climate Change Is Not Enough to Change: A Perspective Paper on the Factors Explaining the Environmental Knowledge-Action Gap," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-17, October.
    3. Hok-Ko Pong & Chun-Cheong Fong, 2023. "The Associations of Spirituality, Adversity Quotient and Ethical Decision Making of Accounting Managers in the Contexts of Financial Management and Corporate Social Responsibility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-21, September.
    4. Xi Ouyang & Wen’e Qi & Donghui Song & Jianjun Zhou, 2022. "Does Subjective Well-Being Promote Pro-Environmental Behaviors? Evidence from Rural Residents in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-19, May.

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