Title: The impact of information and communication technology on youth ecological behaviour: a global cross-country perspective on environmental citizenship and ethics

Authors: Ibrahim Niankara

Addresses: College of Business, Al Ain University, P.O. Box 112612, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Abstract: This paper evaluates the mediating role of information and communication technology (ICT) on the endogenous relationship between pro-environmental activity participation (PAP) and youth engagement in digital and physical climate activism globally. To this end, the study relies on a bootstrap sample of 168,036 respondents from 40 countries, extracted from the 2018 Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA), along with endogeneity switching methods implemented through discrete choice modelling under random utility maximisation. The findings reveal significant but mixed influences of ICT on youth's marginal utility from ecological behaviour uptake, based on the nature and place of ICT access and usage. In addition, factors including youth's personal characteristics, along with their home, parental and family background are found to importantly drive their choices to participate in pro-environmental activities, and also to engage in signing environmental and social petitions online, as well as boycotting products or companies for environmental and social reasons.

Keywords: climate change; climate activism; COP26; information and communication technology; ICT; sustainable development; pro-environmental behaviour; pro-environmental activity participation; PAP.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGW.2023.130133

International Journal of Global Warming, 2023 Vol.29 No.4, pp.318 - 349

Received: 12 Apr 2022
Accepted: 05 Jul 2022
Published online: 05 Apr 2023 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article