Individualist–Collectivist Differences in Climate Change Inaction: The Role of Perceived Intractability

Abstract

The willingness to take action against climate change may be shaped by cultural orientations. The present study investigated individualist–collectivist differences in climate change inaction as well as the mediating role of perceived intractability. In Study 1, a survey of 182 undergraduates showed that greater perceived intractability of climate change was significantly related to a lower frequency of climate-friendly actions in the preceding 6 months. In Study 2, participants who were exposed to information concerning the intractability of climate change (experimental group, n = 98) reported a significantly greater perceived intractability of climate change and lower intention to assume a low-carbon lifestyle than those presented with neutral information (control group, n = 83). Based on Studies 1 and 2, participants with collectivist or individualist orientations were recruited from a pool of Chinese undergraduate students in Study 3. We found that participants with a more individualist orientation ( n = 62) are more subject to perceived intractability, and less likely to take climate-friendly action than those with a more collectivist orientation ( n = 94), and individualist/collectivist status affects climate change inaction through perceived intractability as mediator. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the promotion of public engagement with climate change by mitigating perceived intractability.

Individualism and Climate Change Policies: International Evidence

“…Furthermore, the current research directly relates to Xiang et al (2019) who argue that an orientation toward individualistic cultures is negatively correlated with climate-friendly activities, which is in sharp contrast with my hypothesis. Their approach, however, relies on data obtained from a survey of 182 undergraduate students in China, making it difficult to draw an overall understanding of the link between individualism and climate change policies across the globe.…”

“…in stark contrast with the findings ofXiang et al (2019). Drawing from the psychological literature, the authors postulate that individuals who self-report an orientation toward individualistic cultures are less likely to take action on climate change.…”

“…Later, I also perform an individual-level analysis, which also suggests that individualism is positively associated with pro-environmental policies. Importantly, the findings of Xiang et al (2019) are based on estimating relatively parsimonious OLS regressions that may be biased and inconsistent essentially because of some endogeneity concerns. For this reason, I further depart from their study by considering these econometric issues more thoroughly.…”

“…My findings, by contrast, provide a broad understanding of the relationship between individualism and climate change policies. Even when using individuallevel data that are more comparable toXiang et al (2019), I find that individualism is positively associated with attitudes toward pro-environmental policies.37 According toBeugelsdijk et al (2015), the country level measure of individualism based on responses from the Word Values Survey correlates 0.77 with Hofstede's index of individualistic cultures.…”

Scenarios of Intractability: Reframing Intractable Conflict and Its Transformation

“…This assertion is also supported by recent research that finds intractability to be more likely mitigated in situations where collectivist, rather than individualist, orientations are reinforced. 82 The people of Tuzla coming together to rebuild the bombed church is one example of such a mitigating intervention taking place at a social scale. The cross-community voting and powersharing agreements of the Good Friday Agreements are an example of it taking place at a national, political level.…”