The worsening environmental problems demand a shift from the prevailing Dominant Social Paradigm to the New Ecological Paradigm. Yet, little is known on the conditions necessary for societal adoption of conservation behaviour. This qualitative study explores the social-psychological aspects and processes cultivating ecological identity and worldviews by uncovering the activities, interpretation of experiences that capture mental thoughts, emotions and symbolic meanings within the richness of lived experiences. The findings theorise the process of ecological identity building and offers in-depth insights into the motivations and stages of ecological identities and worldviews that support pro-environmental behaviour. The insights extend the identity theory to illustrate the process of nature identity development to include the stages of identity activation, creation and synthesis; reveal Asian values and beliefs that consumers use to rationalise their consumption behaviour; and provide implications for macromarketing, education and sustainability initiatives, and policy making.

日益恶化的环境问题要求从盛行的主导社会范式转变为新生态范式。然而，对于社会采用保护行为的必要条件知之甚少。这项定性研究通过揭示活动，丰富生活经验中捕获精神思想，情感和象征意义的体验的解释，探索了培养生态认同和世界观的社会心理学方面和过程。研究结果从理论上推论了生态认同的建立过程，并提供了深入的见解，以探讨生态认同的动机和阶段以及支持亲环境行为的世界观。这些见解扩展了身份理论，以说明自然身份发展的过程，包括身份激活，创造和合成的各个阶段。揭示亚洲消费者用来合理化其消费行为的价值观和信念；并对宏观营销，教育和可持续性计划以及政策制定产生影响。