The role of environmental justice in sustainable development in China

Abstract

This study drawing concepts from the fields of sociology, organizational behavior, and marketing examines residents' perceptions of justice in relation to environmental development. Although prior research raised issues related to environmental development from the justice perspective, very little is known about how residents perceive justice related to environmental development. Therefore, our study examines residents' perceptions of justice and how those perceptions influence the relationship with the government. More specifically, the study proposes that four types of justice (distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational) are related with the residents' trust in the government, which predicts their intentions to support for future projects and the government. To test the proposed model, we collected data from residents of four cities in China that were going through environmental development projects. The results of the study show perceptions of distributive justice and interpersonal justice have a significant positive effect on the residents' trust in the government and the environmental development. The study also finds that trust in the government and trust in the environmental development are positively related with residents' intentions to support the government and additional environmental developments. Our finding, however, does not support that either perceptions of procedural justice or perceptions of informational justice are important in the Chinese context. Implications of the study are presented. KEYWORDS environmental justice, social exchange theory, support intention, sustainable development, trust in the government

Promoting sustainable development: A research on residents' green purchasing behavior from a perspective of the goal‐framing theory

“…GPBs. In addition, as the data were collected in China, the government's exemplary role in promoting green consumption activities also contributes to the strong impact of NGF on GPB (Li, Sinha, Kim, & LeeY, 2019).…”

Diagnose barriers to sustainable development: A study on “desensitization” in urban residents' green purchasing behavior

“…Therefore, these motivations cannot drive green consumption continuously. For this purpose, the government can take the lead in practicing green consumption through public institutions and guiding public opinion to shape the green society (Li et al, ), thereby enabling people to complete social identity of green consumers and reducing the switching costs of green consumption. Additionally, the government should regard the construction of green consumption values as a focal point to break the obstacles to GPB so that resident's green purchasing is no longer mandatary behavior under external control but an interest and a conscious act driven by green social values.…”

“…Third, the government being an external force must establish a sound legal and regulatory system and formulate administrative, guiding, and economic policies to encourage residents to consume green products (Li et al, ). Additionally, the government should expand the green consumption market, strengthen environmental awareness, and reduce the SC of green consumption.…”

“…Therefore, these motivations cannot drive green consumption continuously. For this purpose, the government can take the lead in practicing green consumption through public institutions and guiding public opinion to shape the green society (Li et al, 2019), thereby enabling people to complete social identity of green consumers and reducing the switching costs of green consumption.…”

“…Meanwhile, further studies on the cause of "desensitization" (i.e., the "desensitization" reinforced by MP's fear appeals or moderated by other factors) should be conducted. Different from other consumption behaviors, GPB is influenced by both personal and public interests (Li, Sinha, Kim, & LeeY, 2019;Yang et al, 2015). The transitions from green consumption attitude to GPB is constrained and moderated by egoistic appeals (Lin, Lobo, & Leckie, 2017;Yang & Peterson, 2004), further determining the gap between green attitude and actual behavior (Liu, Qu, Lei, & Jia, 2017;Nguyen et al, 2019;Shaw, McMaster, & Newholm, 2016).…”