“I'm worried, but”: Unpacking the gap between environmental concern and pro-environmental behavior

Abstract

Studies have recurrently found a gap between pro-environmental attitudes and pro-environmental behaviors. Consequently, attitudes like environmental concern cannot be assumed to necessarily predict sustainable behavior. However, as the issue salience of climate change steadily increases worldwide, so does the tendency to perform pro-environmental behaviors of different kinds among the public. This paper conceptualizes the green attitude-behavior gap as the difference between environmental concern and pro-environmental behavior. Based on the ISSP Environment IV data (2023) and logistic regression analysis, it unpacks pro-environmental behavior into ten behaviors. For each, it tests the relevance of key mainly socio-demographic variables in predicting consistency with the attitude. The findings mostly corroborate two hypotheses: women are less likely than men to exhibit a gap for behaviors traditionally associated with gender stereotypes, while younger individuals are less likely than older people to exhibit a gap for behaviors more clearly related to political participation.