Governance Role Orientations, Perceived Governance Quality, and Citizen Participation in Climate Policy

ABSTRACT Climate change requires governance arrangements that coordinate governmental authority, civic action, and specialized contributions from nongovernmental actors. Yet research on climate‐policy participation has focused largely on formal participation opportunities, paying less attention to citizens' expectations regarding governance roles and their evaluations of policy processes. This study examines how three survey‐derived governance role orientations—governmental, civic, and industry‐and‐media orientations—and perceived climate policy governance quality are associated with two participation outcomes: institutional participation intention and climate‐related civic participation behavior. The analysis uses data from a nationwide quota‐based online survey of 500 adults in South Korea and applies hierarchical regression models. Civic orientation is positively associated with both participation outcomes, whereas governmental orientation is negatively associated with institutional participation intention. Industry‐and‐media orientation is not significantly associated with either outcome. Perceived climate policy governance quality is positively associated with both institutional participation intention and civic participation behavior, but none of its interactions with the three orientations is statistically significant. The findings distinguish citizens' expectations about governance roles from their evaluations of governance‐process quality. They suggest that civic orientation and favorable process evaluations operate as separate and largely additive correlates of climate‐policy participation. Effective participation strategies should therefore combine meaningful institutional openness with durable connections to citizen‐ and civil society‐led climate action.