Full length articleDonations for environmental sustainability and subjective well-being: Evidence from 37 nations
Introduction
The natural environment is rapidly changing for the worse, and threats from global warming, loss of biodiversity, air pollution, etc., are more severe than ever before (DuNann Winter and Koger, 2004; Gardner and Stern, 2002; Polasky et al., 2019; Thøgersen, 2009; Vlek and Steg, 2007). Human behavior is widely believed to be the main contributor to natural issues, such as climate change or loss of biodiversity (Swim et al., 2011; Wynes and Nicholas, 2017). Changes in human behavior to meet tragedies of sustainability are strongly encouraged when the natural environment changes rapidly (Barr et al., 2011; Hynes and Wilson, 2016; Polasky et al., 2019). Accordingly, seventeen clear goals for sustainability were proposed by the United Nations in 2015 (United Nations, 2015).
On the one hand, pro-environmental behavior is a set of altruistic human behavior related to environmental conservation (e.g., recycling) that consequently contributes to natural environmental sustainability (Lange and Dewitte, 2019; Li et al., 2019; Steg et al., 2014; Stern, 2000). Pro-environmental behavior includes various types of behaviors, including the recycling and reuse of goods, energy-saving behaviors, transportation selection, purchasing energy-saving electronic goods, and reducing waste (Aizawa et al., 2008; Berardi, 2017; Byrne and O'Regan, 2014; Eriksson et al., 2008; Hansmann et al., 2006; Kahn, 2007; Klöckner and Oppedal, 2011; Nordlund and Garvill, 2002; Põldnurk, 2015; Young et al., 2010). People's pro-environmental behavior contributes to natural environmental sustainability and has attracted increasing attention.
Studies focusing on people's donation behavior for environment sustainability are scarce, while pro-environmental behavior, e.g., energy saving behavior, is well discussed in previous studies. The favorable outcomes of people's donation (cash and goods) for environment sustainability are in the perspective of household consumption and non-market environment conservation. From the household consumption perspective, an individual's donation behavior reduces goods/services consumption, which reduces the production process and the environmental burden. Furthermore, donated cash/goods can be used for non-market environment protection.
On the other hand, theoretically, according to goal framing theory (Lindenberg and Steg, 2007), the motivations for individuals to engage in pro-environmental behavior are summarized into the following three different types: hedonic goals, gain goals and normative goals (Steg et al., 2014). Hedonic reasons involve pleasure or enjoyable experiences, whereas gain reasons involve the achievement of the purpose of saving money, and normative reasons involve the right reasons (e.g., protecting the environment is the right thing to do). The conflict between hedonic reasons and gain reasons versus normative reasons occurs because individuals have strengthened hedonic and gain goals and a background of normative goals (Steg et al., 2014). Therefore, pro-environmental behaviors can be strengthened among people if there is an overflow of profit or hedonics (de Groot and Steg, 2009). However, the conflicting relationship between pro-environmental behavior and individuals’ subjective well-being has been theoretically and empirically argued, although not consistently.
Hedonic experiences are among the indicators of individuals’ well-being. Individuals’ well-being involves the following two aspects: emotional well-being (e.g., pleasure) and overall life evaluation (e.g., happiness) (Kahneman and Deaton, 2010). As the natural environment worsens, in-depth investigations of pro-environmental behavior are worthwhile. Supporting individuals’ hedonic experiences and pro-environmental behavior is crucial for sustainability in human society. A growing body of theoretical and empirical studies has focused on pro-environmental behavior and how to prompt human behavior toward sustainability (Lange and Dewitte, 2019; Li et al., 2019; Steg et al., 2014). However, in many cases (although not all), there is a conflict between pro-environmental behavior and individuals’ hedonic experiences (Steg et al., 2014). Therefore, the relationship between the donation for environment conservation and individual's subjective well-being still needs to be discussed.
Accordingly, this study focuses on the relationship between donations (cash and goods) for environment sustainability and people's well-being using an original survey of 37 nations. The results of this study build upon the current literature in the following aspects. First, households’ cash donations for the environment may suggest a novel way to approach environmental sustainability as traditional studies of pro-environmental behavior are more likely to focus on recycling, transportation use, and energy consumption. Second, increasing household earnings can become a crucial target for governments introducing policies. As cash donations might reduce households’ principal income, the relationship between cash donations and well-being provides insightful evidence to policy makers and scholars that improving household income is a key policy direction for many governments. Third, the original large-scale, cross-sectional survey was collected from 37 nations on 6 continents. The results reflect universal responses as well as variations in the relationship between pro-environmental behavior and individuals’ well-being.
The aim of this study is to investigate the association between household donations for environment conservation (cash or goods) and individuals’ emotional well-being and overall happiness while considering the hedonic goal versus normative goal in the framework of goal-framing theory. Moreover, the degree of donations for environment sustainability and individuals’ well-being is explored while considering the gain goal versus normative goal. Finally, the determinant characteristics of donations for environmental sustainability are illustrated. A logit model and ordered logit regression model are applied in the empirical analysis. Original internet-based and face-to-face surveys were collected from participants in 37 nations with population and regional representation. Pro-environmental behavior includes individuals’ donations of cash or goods and volunteering for environmental conservation purposes. Individuals’ well-being includes emotional well-being and overall happiness, whereas emotional well-being includes pleasure, enjoyment, happiness, anger, and sadness.
The remainder of this study is as follows. Section 2 shows literature review. Section 3 provides information on the data collection, variables and methodology. Section 4 summarizes the results, Section 5 discuss the results, and the conclusions are presented in Section 6.
Section snippets
Literature review
The natural environment is rapidly worsening and threatening humanity through global warming, loss of biodiversity, air pollution, and other issues (DuNann Winter and Koger, 2004; Gardner and Stern, 2002; Polasky et al., 2019; Thøgersen, 2009; Vlek and Steg, 2007). Human activities are thought to be a main factor in these rapidly worsening environmental issues (Polasky et al., 2019). Pro-environmental behavior, which contributes to environmental sustainability, is attracting increasing
Data
This study explores the relationships between pro-environmental behavior and emotional well-being as well as overall happiness. The detailed data collection procedures are described as follows. The original survey involved cross-sectional data collected from 37 nations conducted by a professional survey company between 2015 and 2017 through internet-based or face-to-face surveys. Based on the random sampling strategy, the target respondents were selected to match the population age and gender
Results
Fig. 2presents the percentage of individuals providing cash donations, goods donations, and volunteering for environmental conservation purposes. On average, 15% of the participants provided cash donations, 14% contributed as donors of goods, and 23% volunteered for environmental conservation activities. This shows that among the studied nations, the population has relatively low rates of donation or volunteer involvement. International variations exhibit differences among nations. For example,
Discussion
People's natural environment faces unprecedented threats from global warming, loss of biodiversity, air pollution, etc. (DuNann Winter and Koger, 2004; Gardner and Stern, 2002; Polasky et al., 2019; Thøgersen, 2009; Vlek and Steg, 2007). Human activities are believed to be a crucial factor in natural environmental changes (Swim et al., 2011; Wynes and Nicholas, 2017). Understanding people's pro-environmental behavior is associated with the sustainability of societies. In previous studies,
Conclusion
Human behavior is widely believed to be a main contributor to natural issues, such as climate change and loss of biodiversity. A change in human consumption behavior to address sustainability is expected. Growing attention has already been given to individuals’ pro-environmental behavior with rapid climate change. This study used original internet and face-to-face surveys collected from 37 nations to confirm the relationship between pro-environmental behavior and individuals’ well-being.
Author contributions
XP conducted the analysis, prepared the primary manuscript, and participated in the revision of the manuscript. SM designed the survey and supervised the manuscript.
Consent for publication
Not applicable.
Availability of data and material
The data are available upon reasonable request.
Ethical approval and consent to participate
For the original cross-sectional internet survey conducted by a third-party company (Nikkei Research Company) between 2015 and 2017, the study design was approved by the appropriate legal and ethics review board of Kyushu University. The data were collected with informed consent from the participants according to legal and ethical guidelines. All methods proceeded in accordance with the ethical guidelines and were approved by the ethical committee of Kyushu University.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
Not applicable. This research was supported by the Environment Research and Technology Development Fund (JPMEERF20201001) of the Environmental Restoration and Conservation Agency of Japan and JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP20H00648. This Research was supported by Takahashi Industrial and Economic Research Foundation, Grant number J220000023.
References (63)
- et al.
Current results and future perspectives for Japanese recycling of home electrical appliances
Resour. Conserv. Recycl.
(2008) A cross-country comparison of the building energy consumptions and their trends
Resour. Conserv. Recycl.
(2017)- et al.
Does it have to be a sacrifice? Different notions of the good life, pro-environmental behavior and their heterogeneous impact on well-being
Ecol. Econ.
(2020) - et al.
Attitudes and actions towards recycling behaviours in the Limerick, Ireland region
Resour. Conserv. Recycl.
(2014) - et al.
The influence of cultural values on pro-environmental behavior
J. Clean. Prod.
(2020) - et al.
Internal and external influences on pro-environmental behavior: participation in a green electricity program
J. Environ. Psychol.
(2003) - et al.
Acceptability of single and combined transport policy measures: the importance of environmental and policy specific beliefs
Transp. Res. A: Policy Pract.
(2008) - et al.
Choose to reuse! The effect of action-close reminders on pro-environmental behavior
J. Environ. Econ. Manag.
(2021) - et al.
Justifications and self-organization as determinants of recycling behavior: the case of used batteries
Resour. Conserv. Recycl.
(2006) - et al.
I do it, but don't tell anyone! Personal values, personal and social norms: can social media play a role in changing pro-environmental behaviours?
Technol. Forecast. Soc. Change
(2016)
Green growth and pro-environmental behavior: sustainable resource management using natural capital accounting in India
Resour. Conserv. Recycl.
Do greens drive hummers or hybrids? Environmental ideology as a determinant of consumer choice
J. Environ. Econ. Manag.
General vs. domain specific recycling behaviour—applying a multilevel comprehensive action determination model to recycling in Norwegian student homes
Resour. Conserv. Recycl.
Measuring pro-environmental behavior: review and recommendations
J. Environ. Psychol.
What influences an individual's pro-environmental behavior? A literature review
Resour. Conserv. Recycl
Does education increase pro-environmental behavior? Evidence from Europe
Ecol. Econ
Optimisation of the economic, environmental and administrative efficiency of the municipal waste management model in rural areas
Resour. Conserv. Recycl.
An integrated framework for encouraging pro-environmental behaviour: the role of values, situational factors and goals
J. Environ. Psychol.
Environmental concern has a weaker association with pro-environmental behavior in some societies than others: a cross-cultural psychology perspective
J. Environ. Psychol.
Green behavior, green self-image, and subjective well-being: separating affective and cognitive relationships
Ecol. Econ.
Preferences for energy sustainability: different effects of gender on knowledge and importance
Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev.
The policy and practice of ‘sustainable lifestyles
J. Environ. Plan. Manag.
Psychology of Physical Activity: Determinants, Well-Being and Interventions
Pro-environmental norms, green lifestyles, and subjective well-being: panel evidence from the UK
Soc. Indic. Res.
Are psychological and ecological well-being compatible? The role of values, mindfulness, and lifestyle
Soc. Indic. Res.
Multinational life satisfaction, perceived inequality and energy affordability
Nat. Sustain.
Education for strategic environmental behavior
Environ. Educ. Res.
Cronbach's coefficient alpha: well known but poorly understood
Organ Res. Methods
Subjective well-being in China's changing society
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A.
Mean or green: which values can promote stable pro-environmental behavior?
Conserv. Lett.
Subjective well-being
Psychol. Bull.
Cited by (5)
Does the low-carbon city pilot scheme enhance urban total environmental quality? Evidence from China
2024, Journal of Environmental Planning and ManagementIntra-Household Income Management and Couple’s Relative Sharing of Income and Environment Sustainability in Japan
2023, Sustainability (Switzerland)Exploring the differences in associations in residents’ subjective well-being and multiple types of low-carbon behaviors with place attachment as a mediator: evidence from Hangzhou, China
2023, Journal of Environmental Planning and Management