Drivers of students’ pro-environmental behavior in campus environments in Chinese university

Introduction: Universities serve as vital platforms for shaping sustainability-oriented mindsets, particularly in rapidly transforming societies such as China. This study investigates the determinants of students' pro-environmental behavior (PEB) within campus environments by employing an extended theory of planned behavior (ETPB) that integrates Connectedness to Nature (CN), Biospheric Values (BV), and Environmental Knowledge (EK) into the traditional framework. Methods: Using survey data from 431 students at a Chinese university, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was applied to examine the relationships among psychological, moral, and social predictors of PEB. Results: The extended model explained 63.8% of the variance in attitude and 78.6% of the variance in PEB, demonstrating strong explanatory power. Among traditional constructs, subjective norms exerted the strongest effect on PEB, followed by attitude and perceived behavioral control. CN, BV, and EK significantly influenced attitude but affected PEB indirectly, highlighting the mediating role of attitude in translating affective, cognitive, and moral antecedents into behavior. Discussion: The results underscore the social-moral nature of environmental engagement in collectivist contexts and emphasize the importance of integrating emotional, cognitive, and ethical education into sustainability initiatives. This study contributes theoretically to refining TPB for non-Western contexts and provides practical insights for advancing campus sustainability programs.