ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Environmental Psychology
Do Pro-Environmental Factors Influence Sustainable Behaviour? The Moderating Role of Climate Change Concern in China and Pakistan
Zahida Iqbal 1
Liu Youjin 1
Haroon Imtiaz 2
Najid Ahmad 1
1. Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, China
2. National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan
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Abstract
This study examines the factors driving pro-environmental behaviour by focusing on energy-saving, waste sorting, and reducing single-use plastics. Utilising 380 participants' survey data from China and Pakistan, our study considers the Theory of Planned Behaviour to examine attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, and climate change concern in shaping environmental intentions. Employing a structural equation modelling, we find that intentions related to climate change were positive and significantly associated with all three targeted behaviours, i.e., energy saving, waste sorting, and single-use plastic behaviour. Across both countries, attitudes, perceived behavioural control, subjective norms, and climate change concern are significant predictors of pro-environmental intention. Country-specific analysis reveals that attitudes and climate change concern in China significantly predict environmental intention, whereas in Pakistan, environmental intentions significantly predict single-use plastic use behaviour. Moderation analysis shows that climate change concern did not significantly moderate the relation between intention to take climate action and waste sorting behaviour for China, whereas it substantially moderates for Pakistan. However, single-use plastic reduction and climate change concern significantly moderate the relationship between intention and climate change concern and single-use plastic reduction for both countries. The findings highlight the evolving adoption of eco-friendly practices and emphasise the need for environmental policies to enhance pro-environmental behaviour.
Summary
Keywords
Energy saving, Single-use plastics, sustainable behaviour, Theory of Planned Behaviour, Waste sorting management
Received
13 September 2025
Accepted
17 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Iqbal, Youjin, Imtiaz and Ahmad. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Najid Ahmad
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