Water-Saving Attitudes in Residential Gardens: Exploring Climate Change Exposure, Risk Perception, Belief, and Environmental Efficacy

Abstract

Abstract As climate change intensifies, understanding the psychological and contextual factors that shape water-saving attitudes in residential gardening is increasingly important, particularly in arid and semi-arid countries such as Iran. This study examines how climate-related exposure and psychological factors are associated with water-saving attitudes (WSA) using regression analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM). Based on survey data from 182 individuals who owned or managed a residential garden, the SEM supported a sequential pathway: climate type was associated with exposure to climate change effects (ECCE), which positively predicted climate change risk perception (CCRP), leading to stronger climate change belief (CCB), higher environmental efficacy (EE), and ultimately greater WSA. EE emerged as the most proximal direct predictor of WSA, mediating the relationship between CCB and WSA. The structural model showed an acceptable fit (CFI = 0.964, RMSEA = 0.063), supporting the proposed framework. Because the study relied on non-probability snowball sampling and measured self-reported attitudes rather than observed behavior, the findings should be interpreted as exploratory and not generalized to the wider Iranian population. These findings highlight the potentially important role of EE and CCB in strengthening support for water-saving gardening practices. They may inform interventions that encourage water-efficient landscaping in climate-vulnerable regions.