Same neighborhood, different green intentions: the effect of hukou origin on Chinese citizens’ pro-environmental behaviors

Environmental governance plays an important role in building sustainable ecosystems during urbanization, yet it often faces challenges from increasingly diverse urban populations. Using data from the China General Social Survey (CGSS), this study examines how early-life hukou status shapes urban residents’ pro-environmental behaviors and explores underlying psychological mechanisms. Results show that residents of rural hukou origin engage more in individual-level environmental activities but less in collective environmental actions. This behavioral divergence operates mainly through two mediating pathways: attenuated place attachment and differential ascription of responsibility. Rural origins weaken local social ties and shift responsibility attributions away from collective environmental public goods. Heterogeneity analyses further reveal that merit-driven hukou converters exhibit stronger overall environmental engagement than policy-driven migrants, with longer urban residence and local education helping to narrow rural-urban PEB gaps. At the city level, rural-origin residents in non-megacities show higher general environmental engagement, whereas those in megacities display higher activism but lower pro-environmental consumption and recycling. These findings offer important insights for constructing effective environmental governance systems during urbanization and underscore population integration as a key challenge for community-based environmental self-governance in contemporary China.