Determinants of Proactive Low-Carbon Consumption Behaviors: Insights from Urban Residents in Eastern China

Proactive low-carbon consumption behaviors (PLCBs) are crucial to achieving carbon neutrality and identifying motivations for PLCBs is indispensable to changing individual consumption patterns. This study establishes a model by incorporating individual–group-level factors with psychological empowerment perception. The ordinary least-squares regression model was applied to identify the influencing factors of PLCBs with data collected from 1732 urban residents in eastern China. Results show that PLCBs are positively influenced by normative internalization, learning capacity, symbol concern, expertise level, and an environmentalism culture. In particular, the effect of learning capacity is the largest, with an influence coefficient of 0.271. A negative impact is observed between the consumerism culture and PLCBs. Moreover, psychological empowerment perception partly medicated the association between individual–group-level factors and PLCBs, and the maximum ratio of mediating effect to the full impact is 62.64%. The study sheds light on low-carbon-related behavioral management, and recommendations to promote PLCBs are further proposed.