Exploring environmentalism across nations: understanding the influence of societal social progress on environmental values, norms, and behaviour

Abstract

The global push for environmental protection often adopts a universal approach, despite evidence of significant disparities in environmentalism across nations. This study uses data from 28 countries in the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) 2020 Environment module to explore the determinants of pro-environmental behavior. Applying the value-belief-norm (VBN) framework, it examines how societal progress influences the pathways from environmental values to behaviors, with a particular focus on less developed countries that ranked lower on the Weighted Index of Social Progress (WISP). Initial findings show that certain factors such as self-efficacy, environmental concern, pro-environmental norms, and exposure to environmental problems consistently predict behavior across WISP clusters, though the magnitude and significance of these associations vary. However, country-level variation within clusters highlights the limitations of grouping countries solely on social progress rankings. Future research should consider both between- and within-cluster variation, and examine other potential methods, including multilevel modeling with country-level random slopes.