Population Migration Damages the Natural Environment: A Multilevel Investigation of the Relationship Between Residential Mobility and Pro-Environmental Behaviors

Abstract

Residential mobility is increasing worldwide, and it objectively boosts economic strength. However, frequent moves create a specific habitat in which environmental degradation is aggravated. This research explored the relationship between residential mobility and pro-environmental behavior (PEB) from the perspective of environmental adaptation. We conducted five studies to test the hypothesis that high residential mobility decreased private-sphere PEBs at both personal and regional levels. The results showed that high personal residential mobility (Study 1) and high regional residential mobility (Study 2) were negatively correlated with self-reported private-sphere PEBs. Study 3 suggested that individuals primed with a high (vs. low) residential mobility mindset showed less actual private-sphere PEBs. Studies 4 and 5 further demonstrated that the preference for collective benefits played a mediating role in this relationship. These findings extend the adverse impacts of residential mobility to natural environments and highlight the role of social habitat changes in understanding environmental degradation.

Residential mobility and psychological transformation in China: From relational to institutional trust

“…Moreover, high residential mobility makes it hard for people to gather information about a person and hinders reputational information transmission (Zuo et al, 2018 ). Therefore, one's actions in the last game can be completely unknown in the next round and someone's transgression before will not be identified or sanctioned by group pressure or conscience any more (Zuo et al, 2022 ). As a result, the binding effect of reputation within the network of acquaintances will disappear gradually.…”

The Relationship between Environmental Awareness, Habitat Quality, and Community Residents’ Pro-Environmental Behavior—Mediated Effects Model Analysis Based on Social Capital

“…Environmental consciousness can be applied to residents’ own behavior through their evaluation and judgment of external objective things, which is also a necessary condition to ensure the long-term implementation of pro-environmental behavior [ 14 ]. From the perspective of external factors, the community residents’ behavior will be affected by the external situational factors, namely habitat environment [ 15 ]. The evaluation of the quality of the habitat environment is the subjective feelings and psychological perceptions of residents regarding the community environment and the changes in this environment, which can influence people’s specific environmental behaviors in a certain contextual environment [ 16 ].…”

Mobility, independent agency, and cosmopolitan settlement: Evidence from Chinese senior undergraduates

“…as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, as a result of the reform and opening up, as well as urbanization. By the end of 2021, China's urban population was 914.25 million, with an urbanization rate of 64.72% (Xinhuanet, 2021), and a large number of people are still moving to cities from rural regions every year (Zuo et al, 2022). Based on recent investigations (Zeng et al, 2021;Xie et al, 2022), Chinese college graduates and senior undergraduates tend to choose to work in firstand second-tier cities, or big and medium cities with greater economic levels.…”