Residents’ pro-environmental behaviors in marine environmental protection

Abstract Guiding the public to implement pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs) is an important tool in protecting the marine environment. Based on a survey of 418 citizens in Qingdao, the public’s behavioral attitudes and media concerns are introduced to expand the traditional norm activation model (NAM) to understand the public’s PEBs to give references in constructing an effective public participation mechanism in marine environmental protection. The results reveal that most residents express a strong willingness to implement all types of PEBs, with a notable preference for recycling behaviors, followed by accommodating, public, and consuming behaviors. The extended NAM is found to be particularly effective in explaining accommodating and public behaviors. Personal norms can affect PEBs directly, whereas perceived responsibility and media concerns exert indirect effects on PEBs. Meanwhile, there are some differences in the formation mechanism among different behaviors. This research is conducive to understanding the public’s PEBs and thereby improving public participation in marine environmental protection.