Exploring the Differential Effect of Life Satisfaction on Low and High-Cost Pro-Environmental Behaviors

The role of life satisfaction as a determinant of pro-environmental behavior remains largely unexplored in the extant literature. Using a sample of undergraduate students, we explore the effect of life satisfaction on low- and high-cost pro-environmental behaviors. While low-cost pro-environmental behavior has been defined as recycling activities, high-cost pro-environmental behavior is defined in a contingent valuation framework in which respondents are asked about their willingness to pay extra for offsetting CO₂ emissions, thus avoiding treating the proposed payment as symbolic. Controlling for demographic characteristics and environmental concern, results suggest that life satisfaction has a slightly stronger, and more significant, effect on high-cost pro-environmental behavior than in low-cost pro-environmental behavior. This study also finds that environmental concern and having siblings with a university degree increases the probability of engaging in both behaviors. However, family income is a better predictor of high-cost pro-environmental behavior than of low-cost pro-environmental behavior.