EIMECA: A Proposal for a Model of Collective Environmental Actions

The deterioration and destruction of the environment is becoming more and more considerable and greater efforts are needed to stop it. To accomplish this feat, all members of society must identify with environmental problems, with collective environmental action being one of the most relevant means of doing so. From this perspective, the analysis of the psychosocial factors that lead to participation in environmental collective action emerges as a priority objective in the research agenda. Thus, the aim of this study is to examine the role of "environmental identity" as conceptualized by Clayton, as a central axis for explaining environmental collective action. The inclusion of the latter in the theoretical framework of the SIMCA model gives rise to the model that we have called EIMECA. Two studies were conducted, and the results reveal that environmental identity, a variety of negative affects, as well as group efficacy accompanied by hope for a simultaneous additive effect, are critical when it comes to predicting environmental collective action.