Green Behavior Diffusion in Social Networks: Opinion–Action Coevolution, Peer Imitation, and Sustainable Participation
Main article
Abstract
In modern societies, individuals form and revise environmental opinions through social interaction, while simultaneously making behavioral choices that are influenced by peers, material incentives, and cognitive consistency. Despite the prevalence of this dual dynamic, most prior research has examined opinion formation and green behavior adoption as separate processes. This study bridges that gap by constructing a bilayer network model in which an opinion layer—governed by a weighted DeGroot-type update rule—is coupled to a behavior layer whose evolution is determined by three concurrent mechanisms: peer imitation, payoff-driven selection, and opinion-behavior cognitive consistency. Using agent-based simulations on Erdős–Rényi, Barabási–Albert, and Watts–Strogatz networks, we trace how average environmental opinion and the proportion of green cooperators co-evolve toward equilibrium under both synchronous and asynchronous update regimes. Computational results show that scale-free (BA) networks achieve the highest steady-state opinion and cooperator levels; stronger opinion-dependence weights and higher payoff sensitivity accelerate green behavior diffusion; and synchronous updates lead to faster but somewhat higher cooperation levels than asynchronous updates, though long-run equilibria are broadly similar. To validate the model, we analyze survey data collected from 1,246 Chinese residents and confirm that environmental attitude, peer influence, and information exposure jointly predict green behavior, with peer influence mediating the attitude–behavior relationship. The findings yield actionable insights for environmental governance, public campaigns, and platform design aimed at accelerating sustainable participation.
