Actions speak louder than words: Attitudes, behaviour, and partisan identity in a polarised environmental domain

Giangiacomo Bravo, Mike Farjam

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The relationship between environmental attitudes and behaviour is known to be weak, especially when these variables are measured as self-report items in surveys. In addition many environmental questions are highly polarised, making it even more problematic to use survey data to inform policy making. To better explore the attitude–behaviour gap in the context of environmental policies, along with its interaction with partisan identity, we ran an online experiment with 805 U.S. residents. Four key variables – environmental attitudes, self-reported environmental behaviour, observed environmental behaviour (in the form of carbon-offset credit purchase), and partisan identity – were measured, and their interactions in promoting pro-environmental behaviour were analysed. We found that (1) self-reported and real behaviour are almost uncorrelated and (2) partisan identity mainly predicted self-reported not actual environmental behaviour. These results suggest that policy-making needs to rely more on behavioural insight to test policies’ actual effects and to promote real improvement of the local and global environment.
Original languageEnglish
Article number102547
Number of pages11
JournalEnergy Research & Social Science
Volume90
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Subject classification (UKÄ)

  • Environmental Sciences
  • Climate Research
  • Political Science

Free keywords

  • Environmental behaviour
  • Experimental ecology
  • Attitude–behaviour gap
  • Self-reported vs. behavioural data
  • Partisan identity
  • Political polarisation

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