Higher Scientific Consensus Promotes Wider Diffusion: The Case of “Bamboo for Plastic” Environmental Initiative in China

The influence of scientific consensus on public diffusion of environmental initiatives has received little attention. This study tested whether enhancing perceived scientific consensus could promote public diffusion of the “Bamboo for Plastic” initiative in China and examined the underlying mechanism. A pilot survey indicated that public awareness of the initiative was relatively low. Across three experiments ( N = 679), increasing perceived scientific consensus significantly boosted public diffusion behaviors related to the initiative, with diffusion behavior response efficacy mediating this effect. These findings suggest that emphasizing scientific consensus in environmental policy communication can effectively facilitate the interpersonal transmission of pro-environmental messages.

• Publication year

  2026

• Venue

  Science communication

• Publication date

  2026-01-31

• Fields of study

  Not labeled

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1177/10755470251410872
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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