The more involved, the more willing to participate: An analysis of the internal mechanism of positive spillover effects of pro-environmental behaviors

Due to the public characteristics of the ecological environment, there is an inevitable “free-rider” defect in the pro-environmental behaviors. Therefore, it is essential to study residents' pro-environmental behaviors to guide them to adopt pro-environmental behaviors actively. In the field of environmental behavior, recent studies have identified a phenomenon called “behavior spillover.” Research in this field is still in its infancy. The related research has significant single characteristic: most of them are based on a single theory to explain the spillover effect of pro-environmental behavior. This paper takes the case of D Street in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China to research the internal mechanism of positive spillover effects of pro-environmental behaviors. This street is transitioning from not attaching importance to environmental protection to attaching importance to environmental protection, and thus it is a pioneering, representative, and practical sample. This paper takes the theory of planned behavior and cognitive balance theory involving cognition, emotion, and behavior as basic theoretical tools and introduces parallel and chain mediation approaches to cognitive and emotional pathways, in combination with other theories, to examine the factors influencing initial environmental participation behavior on subsequent willingness to participate in a comprehensive way. The study found that in addition to the direct effect environmental protection participation behavior has on subsequent participation willingness, our study found three pathways from Pro-environmental Behaviors to willingness, namely: (1) participating behavior → knowledge → willingness, (2) participating behavior → pleasure → willingness, and (3) participating behavior → knowledge → pleasure → willingness. This paper's aim is to theoretically confirm the complex intermediary mechanism of the positive spillover effect of pro-environmental behavior and to highlight the need to strengthen publicity and education so that residents can appreciate the necessity of environmental protection knowledge and internalize knowledge into positive, stable, and continuous emotions and attitudes, so as to promote their spontaneous environmental protection participation behavior. • Positive spillover was found in pro-environmental behavior. • Cognitive and emotional factors mediate the spillover pathways. • Pro-environmental behavior can be enhanced by cognitive balance.