True grit in protecting our planet: Passion and perseverance for long-term goals moderate the pro-environmental intention-behavior gap

Despite growing concern for the environment, many pro-environmental intentions do not become action, leaving a persistent gap between intention and behavior. Guided by a self-regulation perspective on pro-environmental behavior, we test whether grit, defined as passion and perseverance for long-term goals, strengthens the link from intention to behavior in the environmental domain. Study 1 surveyed Chinese high school students (N = 682). Regression showed a stronger intention-behavior link among those high in grit but a weaker link among those low in grit. Study 2 analyzed large-scale Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data from 15-year-olds worldwide (N = 372,170) and confirmed the same moderating effect. Study 3 tracked Chinese undergraduates (N = 1,286) across three academic years. A random-intercept cross-lagged panel (RI-CLPM) model indicated that grit’s moderating effect resides mainly at the stable between-person level rather than within-person change, which suggests that dispositional grit promotes durable intention to behavior consistency for pro-environmental action. Across studies, these findings refine self-regulation accounts of pro-environmental action by identifying grit as a distinct trait-based moderator and by clarifying the level at which moderation operates. Practically, narrowing the intention–behavior gap may require targeted structural supports for individuals lower in grit, alongside longer-term capacity building approaches that foster sustained commitment to ecological goals.