Influence of environmental regulation on residents’ green and low-carbon living behavior: Based on the moderating effect of face concern

Abstract

[Objective] The green and low-carbon living of residents is one of the key contents of ecological civilization construction and realizing the sustainable development goals. [Methods] Based on the micro-survey data of 902 respondents, this study examined the effects of guidance-oriented environmental regulation, constraint-oriented environmental regulation, and incentive-oriented environmental regulation on residents’ green and low-carbon living behavior through the Tobit model, and further used hierarchical regression to explore the moderating effect of “face” concern in the relationship between the three types of environmental regulation and residents’ green and low-carbon living behavior. [Results] The results show that: (1) The three types of environmental regulation all played a significant role in promoting residents’ green and low-carbon living behavior, and the guidance-oriented environmental regulation played the greatest role; (2) The concern of saving face had a positive moderating effect in the relationship between guidance-oriented environmental regulation-residents’ green and low-carbon living behavior and incentive-oriented environmental regulation-residents’ green and low-carbon living behavior, and had a negative moderating effect in the relationship between constraint-oriented environmental regulation-residents’ green and low-carbon living behavior; (3) Age, education level, family size, and environmental perception had a significant effect on residents’ green and low-carbon living behavior, while income had a negative impact on residents’ green and low-carbon living behavior; (4) The degree of impact of environmental regulation and face concern on residents’ green and low-carbon living behavior also differed between urban and rural residents. [Conclusion] Therefore, through a variety of practical activities, science publicity, moderate rewards and punishments, the role of the three environmental regulations is brought into play, and the education level and environmental awareness of residents are improved, the government can effectively promote the adoption of a green, low-carbon, circular, and sustainable lifestyle by rural and urban residents.

Keywords

• |green and low-carbon|environmental regulation|face concern|moderating effect|tobit model