Role of Affective Mediators in the Effects of Media Use on Proenvironmental Behavior

Abstract

Much of the research on media use and environmental participation has examined the persuasive effects of media-motivated cognitive constructs on proenvironmental behavior, whereas the role of media-induced affective constructs has largely been neglected. To address this gap, this study examines how affective constructs (emotional responses and perceived knowledge) arise from media use and in what ways they contribute to environmental participation in the context of haze. Results from a web survey of 1,589 Chinese citizens suggest that traditional media use elicited more positive emotions than the use of new media, while new media use evoked more negative emotions than that of traditional media. Both traditional and new media use were positive predictors of perceived knowledge. Moreover, negative emotion, positive emotion, and perceived knowledge were all positively associated with proenvironmental behavior. The results of mediation analyses indicated that these affective constructs mediated the association between media use and proenvironmental behavior.