Different Routes to Explain Pro-Environmental Behavior: an Overview and Assessment

Abstract

A variety of theoretical approaches have been taken in an attempt to understand, explain, and promote pro-environmental behavior. The present article gives an overview, including speci c applications, and identi es and discusses various strategies used by researchers to deal with the availability of di erent approaches. The overview includes elementary rational choice theory, the theory of planned behavior, norm-activation theory, theories of habitual behavior, and theories within a social dilemma framework. Strategies identi ed are 'extending existing theories by single explanatory factors', 'comparing theories' in a competitive manner, and 'combining theories' in an integrative manner. It is argued that research would bene t from more standardization in empirical applications, from more competitive theory testing as opposed to integrative theory testing, and from an evaluation of approaches on theoretical grounds as opposed to focusing solely on empirical performance.