Behaving Sustainably: Cultural Cognition, Environmental Orientation, and Pro-Environmental Behavior

Abstract

Scholars have long noted an “attitude–behavior gap” which reflects an incomplete understanding of how values and beliefs translate into pro-environmental action. This study develops and tests a conceptual model in which cultural worldviews along grid (hierarchy-egalitarianism) and group (individualism-communitarianism) dimensions shape environmental orientations, which in turn drive pro-environmental behavior. Environmental orientation is treated as having a cognitive component, measured by the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP), and an affective component, measured by the Connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS). Using survey data from 501 US adults collected online in July 2017, we estimate a Structural Equation Model (SEM) to test direct, indirect, and mediated relationships among cultural worldviews, the NEP, the CNS, and a 12-item self-reported behavior scale. Results showed hierarchical individualists held weaker ecological worldviews, while egalitarian communitarians held stronger ecological worldviews and felt more connected to nature. Both the NEP and CNS were positively associated with behavior, with the CNS showing the stronger relationship. Cultural worldviews had no significant direct effect on behavior; rather, their influence operated entirely through environmental orientations. These findings indicate that cultural worldviews shape pro-environmental behavior indirectly, mediated by cognitive and especially affective environmental orientations, helping to explain part of the attitude–behavior gap.