Högskolan i Skövde

The climate crisis has negative consequences for the environment and society, like pollution, climate crisis, and physical and mental health problems, while pro-environmental behavior (PEB) helps mitigate these crises. Among various factors, ethical values related to the environment play a pivotal role in influencing PEB. However, there are few studies on the influence of ethics on PEB, and even fewer that have consolidated the ethical discourse surrounding PEB. With this consideration, the dispersed ethical discourse on PEB was consolidated by using a systematic literature review, following PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis) guidelines for all 52 articles published between January 2010 and April 2024 and available in Scopus and Web of Science databases. The findings suggest that the frequency of studies on ethical discourse on PEB has increased since 2020, and most of the studies implement quantitative research design. Likewise, this paper suggests four major subject areas and several related subtopics: (1) morality (moral norms; moral licensing and cleansing effects; moral disengagement), (2) ethics (ethical leadership; environmental ethics; ethical literacy), (3) prosocial behavior/benefitting others (altruistic behavior; generativity; animal welfare), and (4) corporate social responsibility. The findings of this study will benefit business organizations in promoting ethical leadership, educational institutions in integrating ethical pedagogy, and the general public in their practices. Additionally, future researchers can use these findings to promote ethical leadership, integrate ethical pedagogy, and foster discourse on moral values, all of which contribute to promoting environmentally friendly behavior.