How Time Pricing Shapes Pro-Environmental Behavior: The Buffering Role of Awe

How Time Pricing Shapes Pro-Environmental Behavior: The Buffering Role of Awe | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article How Time Pricing Shapes Pro-Environmental Behavior: The Buffering Role of Awe Mengmeng Ren, Lijun Yang, Xinqi Liu This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9132488/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 6 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract In contemporary societies, environmental decisions are increasingly made in contexts that emphasize time efficiency and instrumental value. Such contexts may disadvantage pro-environmental behavior (PEB), which often requires individuals to incur immediate temporal costs for long-term collective benefits. This research investigates how “time pricing”—construing time in economic terms—affects PEB and whether awe, a self-transcendent emotion, can mitigate this effect. Across two experiments, participants completed a pro-environmental behavioral task involving trade-offs between personal time costs and environmental outcomes. Experiment 1 found that activating a time pricing mindset significantly reduced PEB, especially under high time costs. Experiment 2 showed that inducing awe reduced this inhibitory effect by reducing the salience of utilitarian evaluations of time. These findings highlight time valuation as a key contextual factor in environmental decision-making and position self-transcendent emotions as a psychological resource that can buffer against the influence of instrumental motives, offering practical insights for promoting sustainability. Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences Biological sciences/Psychology Social science/Psychology pro-environmental behavior time pricing awe pro-environmental behavior task self-transcendent Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files ex.xlsx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviewers agreed at journal 08 May, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 06 May, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 01 May, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 30 Apr, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 03 Apr, 2026 First submitted to journal 03 Apr, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9132488","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":636843116,"identity":"73a723f2-9279-422c-a535-40f9bdaf747c","order_by":0,"name":"Mengmeng Ren","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hunan Normal University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mengmeng","middleName":"","lastName":"Ren","suffix":""},{"id":636843117,"identity":"7e2a32fb-b97a-4c5d-93da-e6baacea099c","order_by":1,"name":"Lijun Yang","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA2ElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACNvbmgw8SDGzq7dtBjIoawlr4eI4lG3yoSEswADEenDlGWIucRI6Z5IwzhxMMJHzMJB+2MBPhMJ5jadK8bYfzzCXY0ioSG9gY+Nu7Ewj55bA1b1t6seXs5mM3EnfIMEicObuBkC2Jt3nbrBkb7hxLu5F4ho3BQCKXgBaJHAOgw5gZG27kmBUktjETpcUI6H3nxA1ALQzEaYEGsrFkz7FkiYQzx3gI+kW+HRKVcvzAOP34o6JGjr+9F78WDMBDmvJRMApGwSgYBVgBAORbT1PlS6V4AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Hunan Normal University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Lijun","middleName":"","lastName":"Yang","suffix":""},{"id":636843124,"identity":"5950fcf8-8b0b-45f9-bd49-e6d7133c375f","order_by":2,"name":"Xinqi Liu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"UCL Institute of Education","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xinqi","middleName":"","lastName":"Liu","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-16 03:23:20","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9132488/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9132488/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":108965517,"identity":"306aebe0-de03-4604-89b1-0656af71a5d7","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-05-11 09:33:34","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":664541,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9132488/v1_covered_c5c9998d-764c-4489-b4c7-03ea02bdcda3.pdf"},{"id":108965415,"identity":"f0747f9e-fa8a-4f0a-b7b9-5956bda62881","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-05-11 09:33:05","extension":"xlsx","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":18992,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ex.xlsx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9132488/v1/aba8ec8270f2835086369717.xlsx"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"How Time Pricing Shapes Pro-Environmental Behavior: The Buffering Role of Awe","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"humanities-and-social-sciences-communications","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"palcomms","sideBox":"Learn more about [Humanities \u0026 Social Sciences Communications](http://www.nature.com/palcomms/)","snPcode":"41599","submissionUrl":"https://submission.springernature.com/new-submission/41599/3","title":"Humanities and Social Sciences Communications","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Nature AJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"pro-environmental behavior, time pricing, awe, pro-environmental behavior task, self-transcendent","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9132488/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9132488/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eIn contemporary societies, environmental decisions are increasingly made in contexts that emphasize time efficiency and instrumental value. 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