Connecting the Dots: Group Coordination, Collective Agency, Social Cohesion and Sustainable Behavior
Summary
The understanding of the predecessors of sustainable behaviour is currently more
crucial than ever, especially for finding ways to delay or stop the harmful impact we are
having on the environment. The focus of the current research is to investigate how a
psychological understanding of sustainable behaviour can benefit a transition to collective
sustainability. This research aims at investigating how collective agency, social cohesion and
the intention to behave sustainably are influenced by the degree of coordination that
individuals experience. In this experiment, participants completed a task with either a high or
a low coordination manipulation and answered a questionnaire once they had finished it
(N=84). The hypotheses were that the act of coordination would enhance the sense of
collective agency, i.e., it is assumed that individuals experiencing more coordination in a
group will report higher levels of collective agency. It was also assumed that the act of
coordination would increase the sense of social cohesion, i.e., individuals experiencing more
coordination in a group will report higher levels of social cohesion. By addressing both
elements, we expected to increase the intention for performing sustainable behaviour. Our
results revealed no association between coordination and collective agency or sustainability
intention. However, a significant relationship was discovered between coordination and
social cohesion. Moreover, in the literature search, social cohesion was found to increase proenvironmental behaviour. Together, these results demonstrate that higher social cohesion and
the subsequent positive effects on pro-environmental behaviour are a follow-up of higher
coordination. These insights are fundamental for effectively promoting the adoption of
environmentally sustainable practices among populations.