Is social responsibility a factor that influences athletes’ environmental intention and behaviours? A case study on a university football club members in Japan

Despite growing recognition of sport’s environmental impact on climate change and vice versa, limited research examines athletes’ environmental behaviours, particularly in Japan. This study examines Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour by incorporating social responsibility to investigate environmental intentions and behaviours among 121 members of a Japanese university football team. Through SEM, findings reveal that subjective norms significantly predict environmental intentions, while attitudes significantly predict social responsibility. A bidirectional relationship exists between social responsibility and environmental intentions, reflecting Japan’s sporting culture where community contribution aligns with environmental action. However, a substantial intention-behaviour gap emerged. This suggests that while Japanese university footballers possess favourable behavioural intentions, past actions show limited environmental behaviours. The study contributes to understanding athletes’ environmental intentions and behaviours in the Japanese football context, where senior-junior relationships could influence environmental decision-making. Findings show the importance of addressing structural barriers and leveraging social influence to potentially bridge the intention-behaviour gap.