Responsibility over participation in explaining pro-environmental behavior in centralized urban management

Despite growing attention to pro-environmental behavior, limited research has simultaneously examined the roles of citizen participation and responsibility dimensions within centralized urban governance contexts. This study examines how the roles of citizen participation, civic responsibility, and social responsibility shape pro-environmental behavior within the context of centralized urban management, with a focus on the metropolis of Tehran. Adopting a quantitative approach, data were collected from 385 citizens and analyzed using structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings indicate that while civic and social responsibility exert significant positive effects on pro-environmental behavior, citizen participation does not demonstrate a meaningful direct or indirect influence. These findings suggest that, within centralized governance, responsibility-based mechanisms may function as stronger motivational drivers of environmental behavior than participatory opportunities. By extending the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) beyond its conventional behavioral pathways, the study positions civic and social responsibility as complementary motivational mechanisms while demonstrating that citizen participation does not necessarily translate into pro-environmental behavior when governance conditions constrain its behavioral influence. The novelty of the study lies in integrating participation and responsibility within a single TPB-informed framework and showing that the behavioral relevance of participation is context-dependent rather than universally positive. The findings therefore highlight the importance of considering governance conditions when applying behavioral theories to explain citizen environmental actions. Practically, policymakers and urban governance practitioners should complement participatory initiatives with strategies that strengthen citizens’ civic and social responsibility to promote sustainable environmental behavior.