Effects of social capital, risk perception and awareness on environmental protection behavior

ABSTRACT Introduction: Environmental protection is an essential issue for sustainable development, and its execution power mainly comes from individual environmental protection behavior. This study investigates the resident environmental protection behaviors and influencing factors in the ecologically fragile areas of western China based on a total of 1062 households by adopting the participatory assessment method. Then, this study used the structural equation model to empirically analyze the impact of social capital, environmental risk perception, and environmental awareness on residents’ environmental protection behavior. Outcomes: The results showed that environmental awareness is the basis for practicing environmental protection behavior, consistent with the existing research; social capital has a significant impact on residents’ environmental protection behavior, with an impact coefficient of 0.347. Hence, environmental risk perception has an indirect influence on environmental protection behavior through environmental awareness. Besides, compared with urban residents, rural residents’ environmental awareness and social capital have a stronger role in environmental protection behavior. Conclusions: The study clarified the influence path of residents’ environmental protection behavior, thus effectively providing a decision-making basis for the government to guide residents in the environmental governance system.