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Background China’s economic boom has led to severe environmental pollution, which has created significant health risks for residents. Although current studies have found urban residents can sense the harmful effects of environmental pollution in China, few studies have talked about their rural counterparts’ attitudes towards the health impacts of environmental pollution. Similarly, little research has talked about the inequality of environmental awareness between urban and rural residents. Methods Descriptive and analytical statistics were used for the data analyses based on a national survey, namely, T he 3rd Survey on the Status of Chinese Women in 2010 , which was jointly conducted by the All China Women’s Federation and the China Statistical Bureau in 2010. A total of 24741observations were selected. Results Among urban residents, 67.21% reported that their total health was good, which was 1.35% lower than the reported rate of their rural counterparts; 25.88% of urban residents reported that their total health was general, which was nearly 3% higher than the reported rate of their rural counterparts; 6.91% of urban residents reported that their total health was poor, which was 1.63% lower than the reported rate of their rural counterparts. The study also found that the rates of urban residents who perceived air pollution (35.67%), water pollution (17.96%), garbage pollution (25.05%), and noise pollution (32.05%) were higher than those of their rural counterparts. Perceived air pollution, and perceived noise pollution both had a negative effect on urban residents’ good health (B = − 0.14, p  < 0.05; B = -0.23, p  < 0.001). Perceived garbage pollution had a positive effect on urban residents’ poor health (B = 0.33, p  < 0.01). Perceived water pollution had no significant effect on urban residents’ health. The four types of perceived environmental pollution all had insignificant effects on rural residents’ health. Conclusions Rural residents lack awareness of the impacts of environmental pollution on health, which may create risks and vulnerability within the rural environment and the livelihood of these residents. Great attention should be paid to the impacts of environmental pollution on the health of not only urban residents but also rural residents, which will highly improve the support of green development among the public in China.

Background Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) measures are being used in increasingly diverse populations. However, there have no known studies to date to examine the associations between perceived environmental pollution and HRQoL in a Chinese population. This study aimed to report the associations between air, water, noise pollution and HRQoL among Chinese adult population. Methods A cross-sectional survey data was used from East Asian Social Survey 2010 with a sample of 3866 Chinese populations regarding environmental pollution. HRQoL was computed by SF-12 and reflected by physical and mental component summary score (PCS & MCS). Ordinary least regression analyses were used to examine associations between perceived environmental pollution and PCS and MCS scores. Models in SPSS PROCESS were selected to demonstrate the moderating and mediating effects. Results Only considering one pollutant, perceived air pollution and perceived water pollution had significant associations with PCS and MCS scores. Perceived noise pollution had significant associations with PCS scores. Perceived air×noise, air×water, noise×water, and air×noise×water pollution had significant associations with PCS and MCS scores. Conditional (moderated) mediation showed that there were no moderating effects and mediating effects of perceived one pollutant on another pollutant. Conclusions Co-occurring perceived environmental pollution were mainly associated with progressive increase in PCS and MCS scores among the Chinese adult population. These results suggested that some effective policies should be carried out to improve environmental quality in Chinese adult population.

Numerous studies have investigated the relationship between income inequality and objective environmental pollution, but few focus on the nexus between income inequality and subjective environmental pollution (SEP). Using micro data from the Chinese General Society Survey (CGSS) in 2013 and official statistical data at the provincial level, this paper tests the impact of individual-level income inequality on subjective environmental pollution in China. The results show that individual-level income inequality has an inverted U-shape relationship with subjective environmental pollution, which indicates that increasing the income inequality at the individual level will first rise and then reduce their perceived subjective environmental pollution after reaching the peak. For about 84% of respondents, their subjective environmental pollution decreases with the increase of individual-level income inequality. Furthermore, the heterogeneity analyses show that the income inequality of urban residents and of the locals have an inverted U-shape effect on SEP, and the SEP of females and of individuals with positive environmental attitude are more sensitive to the effect of income inequality. Additionally, we find that subjective well-being plays a mediating role in the relation between income inequality and SEP. Individual income inequality decreases their self-reported well-being, and an increase in well-being has a negative effect on their subjectively perceived environmental quality. We also find non-television media exposures, such as newspaper, magazine, broadcasting, Internet, and mobile custom messages, will amplify the effect of individual-level income inequality on subjective environmental pollution.

This study aims to identify the determinants of consumers’ intentions to buy eco-friendly appliances for their households. This research scrutinizes the linkage between environmental knowledge (EK), consumer attitude (CAT), green trust (GT), and purchase intention (PI) in an emerging economy’s context. This study analyzes survey data from 331 Pakistani consumers using energy-efficient household products. SEM is employed to assess the formulated hypotheses. Empirical findings suggest that EK positively and significantly influences CAT and green trust. Similarly, CAT has a negative and insignificant influence on PI. In contrast, green trust is significantly and positively related to PIs. The research outcomes further disclose that perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE) and perceived behavioral control (PBC) positively influence PI. The study extends the B2B sales literature and suggests future directions for academics and practitioners.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are known to be effective in reducing dependence on fossil fuels, in turn reducing the emission of greenhouse gas and other pollutants. To promote EVs, considerable efforts and measures have been taken. However, the public’s awareness and acceptance of EVs are still low, which has affected the diffusion of EVs in the market. Based on the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) framework, this research aims to explore how consumers’ EV driving experience (S) affects their emotions and cognitions regarding EVs (O: perceived relative advantage, perceived ease of use, and perceived risk of EVs) and then activates their intentions to adopt EVs (R). Based on survey data from 692 respondents, the results suggested that consumers’ EV driving experience has a significantly positive effect on perceived relative advantage and perceived ease of use, and then perceived relative advantage and perceived ease of use positively affect consumers’ intentions to adopt EVs. The EV driving experience negatively affects perceived risk, and perceived risk is also negatively associated with EV adoption intentions. Furthermore, consumers’ EV driving experience also has a significant direct effect on EV adoption intentions. Based on the research results, relevant recommendations and suggestions have been proposed to promote EVs from the government and enterprise perspectives.

Based on expectancy valence theory, people’s behavior is affected by their self-perception and the external environment. In rural China, policy instruments as robust external environment factors have a strong effect on waste separation behavior (WSB). The purpose of the paper is to explore the influencing mechanism of policy instruments (infrastructure and information) on perceived value (perceived benefit and perceived cost) and waste separation behaviors. The data were collected from 689 rural households of Shaanxi province in China, and analyzed by using structural equation model (SEM). According to the results, the mediation effect proves that policy instruments not only can affect WSB directly but also can affect it indirectly through the perceived value. Specifically, information and infrastructure influence the perceived benefit positively and the perceived cost negatively, and information and infrastructure have an indirect effect on WSB through the mediation effect of the perceived cost. Second, policy instruments have a stronger effect on rural people’s waste separation behavior than perceived value. Specifically, infrastructure has the most important impact on waste separation behavior, followed by information and then perceived cost. Third, the perceived cost is significantly negatively related to WSB, and perceived benefit has a positive effect but is statistically insignificant. It has a practical implication for the government. Providing sufficient infrastructure and launching effective information activities could improve the perceived benefit including biospheric, egoistic, social-altruistic, and reputation; and reduce the perceived cost of time, physical, learning, and money, which could then induce rural households to engage in WSB.

Numerous studies have examined how farmers are involved and behave in the use of pesticides, but what drives farmers’ intention to diminish pesticide applications is mostly unknown. This study explored farmers’ intention to minimize pesticide use, through the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and an adjusted form of the TPB, with perceived risk of loss as an additional variable to the original model. On a scale from 1 to 5, intention to reduce pesticide use had the lowest score of all variables (2.36), indicating that most farmers did not show intention to reduce pesticide use. Only 15.2% of the farmers were willing to reduce pesticide use, while 8.3% were undecided. Moreover, 58.2% of the farmers had high levels of perceived risk of loss by the reduction of pesticide use, which explained 37.3% of farmers’ intention. From the three variables of the TPB, attitudes had the highest score (3.34), indicating slightly favorable attitudes toward pesticide reduction, while perceived behavior control had the lowest score (2.70), indicating poor control of pesticide reduction. Also, the three basic variables of the TPB were positively correlated ( P < 0.01) with farmers’ intention to reduce pesticides, while a negative correlation ( P < 0.01) was noted between intention to reduce pesticides and perceived risk of loss. The three basic variables of the TPB were significant predictors of intention, capturing 54.7% of the variation in farmers’ intention. Adding perceived risk of loss as a construct to the TPB improved the predictive ability of the original model. Poor control of pesticide reduction (high-perceived barriers) and high perceived risk of loss drive farmers’ intention to reduce the use of pesticides. Advancing alternative crop protection methods focusing on agro-ecology and integrated pest management should be included in the work of extension services.

Point source pollution by pesticide use poses serious challenges for soil and water quality, especially in developing countries, where heavy pesticide use is often noted. However, data on farmers’ practices of waste disposal and factors affecting actual behavior are scarce. The current study dealt with farmers’ practices and safety behavior in proper disposal of empty pesticide containers (EPC) in Ardabil Province, Iran, based on a survey with structured questionnaires. Almost 30% of the farmers mentioned that they were leaving EPC in the farm or throwing EPC in water canals, while the remaining farmers reported that they were burning EPC or throwing them in the common trash. Concerning information on proper disposal of EPC, almost one-third of the respondents (34.3%) had no information, while above half (56.3%) had very low or low information. On a scale from 1 to 5, farmers’ showed relatively negative attitudes towards proper disposal of EPC. Moreover, farmers showed low levels of subjective norms and perceived behavioral control, i.e. they were not influenced by people around them in the proper management of EPC and had fair control of proper management of EPC. Therefore, farmers showed slightly negative intention and rather weak behavior to proper disposal of EPC. Attitudes and subjective norms showed a positive effect (P < 0.05) on farmers’ intention towards disposal of EPC and farmers’ intention showed a positive effect (P < 0.05) on actual behavior towards disposal of EPC. Findings provide novel fundamental information for more effective disposal schemes of EPC in the study area, where disposal of pesticide waste is insufficient. Promoting attitudes towards proper disposal of EPC through information from peers or important individuals to farmers can be targeted for promoting environmentally friendly behavior of farmers with proper practices of EPC disposal after use.

There is an increasing concern over the environmental degradation caused by agricultural activities especially in developing countries which mostly linked to farmer’s behavior. Thus, this study aimed to model the responsible attitude and behavior of Iranian farmers in respect to environment. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was used as a basis for identification of the main determinants of the farmers’ responsible environmental behavior. A survey of 400 farmers in the Hamedan Province, selected through a multistage stratified random sampling method. Data was gathered using a questionnaire which its validity and reliability were confirmed by a panel of agricultural and environmental experts and calculated Cronbach’s alpha (0.65 ≤ α ≤ 0.80), respectively. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) to evaluate the strength of relationship between the constructs and test the overall model fit. Results of study showed that “using animal manure in the farms” was the most important behavior which farmers are responsibly doing to respect their environment but their least attention is given to “disposing cans and bottles after spraying.” Also, the fitness indices of the model revealed that the TPB partially supported the farmers’ responsible environmental behavior as perceived behavioral control and environmental attitude positively influenced the farmers’ responsible environmental behavior but there was not observed any significant influence by subjective norm. Among the additional incorporated constructs, environmental awareness, ethical commitment, and environmental concern significantly had a positive influence on farmers’ behavior by mediating role of the environmental attitude. The inclusion of new constructs in the TPB model was supported through improving the predictive power of the modified model in predicting farmers’ responsible environmental behavior.

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the relationship between green human resource management (GHRM) practices and the environmental performance (EP) of firms belonging to industries that may lean toward environmental pollution (e.g. oil and gas). The authors propose a holistic (serial mediation) model based on the ability-motivation-opportunity (AMO) theory and the social exchange theory (SET) and integrate organizational, i.e. perceived organizational support (POS), and individual, i.e. innovative environmental behavior (IEB), factors as explanatory mechanisms. The authors then test the model in a developing country context.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from white collar workers in the oil and gas industry in Pakistan. A structural equation modeling (SEM) technique and the PROCESS model 6 were used to analyze the hypothesized serial mediation model.FindingsThe authors found support for the fully meditating serial mediation model. Although the direct effects of GHRM and EP were insignificant, the total effects and indirect effects through POS and IEB were significant. Similarly, the research also found support for organizational and individual factors as explanatory mechanisms in the relationship between GHRM and EP.Originality/valueThis research adds to the existing literature on GHRM and the corporate EP link through proposing and testing a model of the mediating effects of POS and IEB. Furthermore, it provides empirical evidence of this model in the oil and gas sector using an Asian developing country as the context of study.