Year: 2025
Type: preprint
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The idea that nature has spiritual qualities is common in diverse cultural and religious contexts. In North American samples, evidence supports a link between ecospirituality and pro-environmental outcomes. However, the generalizability of this claim remains untested. This study employs a large cross-cultural sample of religious individuals from 15 countries spanning the 5 world religions (N = 11,186) to (1) estimate the link between ecospirituality and three pro-environmental outcomes: behavioural intentions to make sustainable decisions, policy support, and financial donations to a pro-environmental organization; and (2) assess the pathways by which an ecospiritual worldview translates to pro-environmentalism. The results of pre-registered analyses showed that ecospirituality positively predicted each of the pro-environmental outcomes similarly across diverse cultural and religious populations. Even more, the link between ecospirituality and pro-environmental outcomes were consistently mediated by the same variables across cultures. In short, ecospirituality unites diverse cultural worldviews in motivating care for nature by fostering a sense of responsibility, gratitude and efficacy, making it a potentially powerful foundation for global environmental stewardship.
Authors: Matthew Ira Billet, Adam Baimel
Institutions: University of California, Irvine, Oxford Brookes University
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4413975774