How Does Government Information Service Quality Influence Public Environmental Awareness?

Abstract

The development of public environmental awareness has been an essential part of environmental governance in China and a prerequisite for the emergence of conscious environmental behaviors. However, the deeper factors influencing Chinese public environmental awareness are not yet fully understood. In this study, the perception of environmental pollution and the sense of political efficacy were introduced as variables to establish a public environmental awareness model, at the perception level, from the perspective of government information service quality. The correlations between different variables, as well as the working principles, were analyzed based on national environmental survey data. The results demonstrate that both external (the government information service quality) and psychological (the perception of environmental pollution and the sense of political efficacy) factors have significant positive influences on public environmental awareness, with the sense of political efficacy outperforming the perception of environmental pollution and the government information service quality. Analysis of the mediating effect reveals that government information service quality directly influences public environmental awareness; it also indirectly influences public environmental awareness through a chained mediating effect of the perception of environmental pollution and the sense of political efficacy. The results of the multiple-group analysis, with gender and urban–rural attributes as moderator variables, further show that, compared with men and urban residents, the impact of government information service quality and environmental pollution perception on women and rural people's political efficacy is not significant. Therefore, it is suggested to optimize the government information service, improve the public's perception of environmental pollution, and then promote the public's sense of efficacy in the environment governance situation. Furthermore, the government should formulate differentiated strategies for different types of public to guide them to form a proactive awareness of environmental protection.

Youth participation in governance in China: The roles of perceived responsibility and political efficacy

“…Such a perception of governance responsibility aligns with China's collectivistic culture and is well demonstrated in the country's response to the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., Lu et al, 2021;Wang et al, 2022). During the pandemic, billions of Chinese citizens followed instructions and protocols (e.g., lockdown measures, sheltering in place, and wearing masks) and expected the government to deal with the crisis.…”

“…For thousands of years, Confucianism has cultivated Chinese people to develop an obedient and passive political culture (Ke, 2015), which instills a sense of respect and adherence to their rulers, with the expectation that the rulers will “protect and nourish” them (Shi, 2000, p. 541). Such a perception of governance responsibility aligns with China's collectivistic culture and is well demonstrated in the country's response to the COVID‐19 pandemic (e.g., Lu et al, 2021; Wang et al, 2022). During the pandemic, billions of Chinese citizens followed instructions and protocols (e.g., lockdown measures, sheltering in place, and wearing masks) and expected the government to deal with the crisis.…”

“…First, the measurement instruments used in this study were developed and validated by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and would benefit from feedback and validation by other researchers. Although the measure of political participation in studies using the same dataset has been almost identical, political efficacy has been measured inconsistently (Li & Cui, 2018; Wang et al, 2022). Measures designed to fit the Chinese context are also different from measures validated in other countries (Hope, 2016).…”

“…Similar to previous measures of internal political efficacy, which focuses on how much youth believe they can participate in politics (Hope, 2016;Wang et al, 2022), youth's perceived political efficacy of participation in governance in the present study was measured by one item: "I am capable of and have the knowledge to comment on politics." Responses (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree) were coded such that higher scores indicated stronger self-perceived political efficacy.…”

How Does Organizational Leadership Promote Pro-Environmental Behavior? A Moderated Mediation Model of Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility Policies

“…This article proposes that environmental identity should facilitate the link between environmental corporate social responsibility and pro-environmental behaviors. For example, employees with stronger environmental identity should exhibit more pro-environmental behaviors because of the firm's environmental corporate social responsibility policy, as they have a background of more vital environmental identity values [31,32]. The reason is that they show more pro-environmental behaviors because these behaviors can alleviate any inconsistencies.…”