Perceived state capture and corruption regarding climate change: Links to mobilisation, perceptions, and climate action intentions

The perceptions of the state as corrupt or captured by ‘fossil fuel’ or ‘green’ interests influence climate action. Yet despite its importance, there is limited research on how such perceptions are linked to mobilisation for environmental action, general perceptions of climate change and politics, and climate action intentions. We test these relationships with two datasets of participants living in Queensland (Australia), sampled at two timepoints. In both samples (Ns = 941, 765), we found significant relationships between perceptions of state capture and corruption and (1) mobilisation for environmental collective action, assessed through the constructs central to the Social Identity Model of Collective Action (SIMCA); (2) perceptions of threat caused by climate change; and (3) intentions for environmental action. We found these associations even when controlling for political orientation and perceptions of anomie (that is, perceptions of societal decay). These findings have important implications for understanding how beliefs about state functioning relate to attitudes and actions in the climate change context.