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Does risk perception limit the climate change mitigation behaviors?

Environment, Development and Sustainability volume 21, pages 1891–1917 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

This study aims to explore the potential mediating effect of risk perception between environmental consciousness, social trust and environmental knowledge to climate change mitigation behaviors and community green activity participation. The data were gathered from various categories of age strata in Klang Valley, Malaysia, from which 210 respondents participated in this study. Factor analysis, partial least squares and structural equation modeling tools were used to achieve these aims. The findings indicate that environmental consciousness and social trust are key predictors of risk perception. However, environment knowledge is not significantly related to risk perception. The proposed mediating influence of risk perceptions on mitigation behaviors and green activity participation are not supported.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to take this opportunity to thank the data collection assistants and the anonymous respondents that responded to the questionnaire.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Management, Multimedia University, Jalan Multimedia, 63100, Cyberjaya, Selangor, Malaysia

    Shay-Wei Choon, Hway-Boon Ong & Siow-Hooi Tan

Authors
  1. Shay-Wei Choon
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  2. Hway-Boon Ong
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  3. Siow-Hooi Tan
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Correspondence to Shay-Wei Choon.

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Choon, SW., Ong, HB. & Tan, SH. Does risk perception limit the climate change mitigation behaviors?. Environ Dev Sustain 21, 1891–1917 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-018-0108-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-018-0108-0

Keywords

  • Risk perceptions
  • Environmental consciousness
  • Environmental knowledge
  • Social trust