Environmental concern: a culture of trust
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.71014/sieds.v79i2.293Abstract
In this paper, we test the hypothesis that participation in cultural associations improves social capital, and more specifically generalized trust, which in turn fosters environmental concern. Using a dataset combining two large cross-national socioeconomic surveys and an instrumental variable mediation approach, we find that a measure of generalized trust fully mediates the relationship between people’s participation in cultural organizations and their environmental concerns. This result suggests that governments can increase citizens' environmental concern – a prerequisite for pro-environmental behaviors – by encouraging their participation in cultural associations.
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