title: National differences in environmental concern and performance are predicted by country age.
abstract: There are obvious economic predictors of ability and willingness to invest in environmental sustainability. Yet, given that environmental decisions represent trade-offs between present sacrifices and uncertain future benefits, psychological factors may also play a role in country-level environmental behavior. Gott's principle suggests that citizens may use perceptions of their country's age to predict its future continuation, with longer pasts predicting longer futures. Using country- and individual-level analyses, we examined whether longer perceived pasts result in longer perceived futures, which in turn motivate concern for continued environmental quality. Study 1 found that older countries scored higher on an environmental performance index, even when the analysis controlled for country-level differences in gross domestic product and governance. Study 2 showed that when the United States was framed as an old country (vs. a young one), participants were willing to donate more money to an environmental organization. The findings suggest that framing a country as a long-standing entity may effectively prompt proenvironmental behavior.
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Marketing, Stern School of Business, New York University.
authors.forename: Hal E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Hershfield
authors.forename: H Min
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Bang
authors.forename: Elke U
authors.initials: EU
authors.lastname: Weber
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012919:Social Behavior; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States
keywords: decision making; environmental behavior; environmental performance; intergenerational connectedness; judgment