An Empirical Study On The Impact Of Media Communication On The Public’s Plastic Ban Behavior

As the economy and society develop rapidly and people’s living standards improve rapidly,take-out ordering and excessive packaging have become the norm,and the horrifying plastic pollution has followed.From the current data on plastic production and use,China is one of the top ten plastic product producing and consuming countries in the world.The massive use of plastic products has caused serious environmental and social problems.Despite the high attention paid to "plastic pollution" control by the country,the production of plastic products has not decreased but instead increased,and the production and use of plastic-made products have not been effectively controlled.In contemporary society,the media plays an important role in people’s activities such as obtaining information and learning knowledge,and has become an important source of environmental information for the public.As one of the core issues in the study of the media effect of environmental communication,academia closely monitors whether media communication can promote the public to take positive actions to improve environmental issues.Through media communication activities,the public can obtain a series of information on environmental policy interpretation,environmental pollution status,and personal action suggestions.At the end of 2020,the "Regulations on the Prohibition of Disposable Non-degradable Plastic Products in Hainan Economic Zone" was officially implemented,known as the "strictest ’plastic ban order’ in history".This study takes the promulgation of the "Plastic Ban Order" in Hainan Province as a research case and uses the questionnaire survey method to study the impact of media communication on the public’s plastic ban behavior in Hainan Province.Specifically,four types of mediarelated factors,including media use,media dependence,media trust,and information attention,were examined for their impact mechanisms on the plastic ban behavior.At the same time,the variable of environmental risk perception was included to study its mediating effect between media communication and plastic ban behavior.Data analysis of the survey questionnaire showed that at the current stage,the public’s practice of plastic ban behavior in private and public domains in Hainan Province is still relatively low.Both media use and media dependence have a certain impact on the public’s plastic ban behavior,among which the use of television and websites will have a significant positive impact on plastic ban behavior.Media dependence has a significant impact on the public’s plastic ban behavior.Specifically,dependence on television and websites will have a significant impact on both private and public domain plastic ban behavior,while dependence on social media only has a significant impact on public domain plastic ban behavior.The public’s evaluation of media credibility will also affect their plastic ban behavior.As for the credibility of channels and sources,the more the public trusts newspapers,television,social media plastic product producers,government agencies and officials,experts,and scholars,the higher their level of plastic ban behavior will be.The public’s attention to plastic ban information in different media will also affect their plastic ban behavior.The level of attention to plastic ban information in newspapers,television,and websites can positively predict their plastic ban behavior.Finally,environmental risk perception will play a certain mediating role between media factors and plastic ban behavior.