Environmental Risk Perception and Sustainable Behaviour across Cultures: The Roles of Social Norms, Values and Collective Responsibility

Abstract

Environmental sustainability has become a global priority, yet the psychological and social mechanisms underlying sustainable behaviour remain insufficiently understood across different cultural contexts. This study investigates the influence of environmental risk perception, social norms, environmental values, and collective responsibility on sustainable behaviour and examines the mediating role of collective responsibility across six countries: Brazil, China, Germany, India, Japan, and the United States. A synthetic dataset comprising 1,200 respondents (200 per country) was analysed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The measurement model demonstrated satisfactory reliability and validity, while the structural model exhibited excellent fit (χ²/df = 1.29, CFI = 0.995, TLI = 0.994, RMSEA = 0.016). The findings reveal that environmental risk perception, social norms, environmental values, and collective responsibility significantly influence sustainable behaviour. Among these factors, collective responsibility emerged as the strongest predictor and partially mediated the relationship between environmental risk perception and sustainable behaviour. Cross-cultural analysis further indicated that although the strength of the structural relationships varied across countries, the hypothesized relationships remained positive and consistent, demonstrating the robustness of the proposed framework across diverse cultural settings. The study extends the Theory of Planned Behaviour, the Value-Belief-Norm theory, and Cultural Theory by identifying collective responsibility as a key mechanism linking environmental awareness and values to sustainable behaviour. The findings offer practical implications for policymakers and environmental practitioners seeking to design culturally inclusive strategies that promote long-term sustainable behaviour.