Climate Risk Perception and Household Adaptation Behaviour in Climate-Vulnerable Coastal Communities of Bangladesh

Abstract

Household adaptation is crucial for building the resilience of coastal communities in Bangladesh, which face a high risk of impacts on their livelihoods and well-being due to climate change. This research aims to examine the behavioural determinants of household adaptation, and combines Protection Motivation Theory and the Theory of Planned Behaviour. It specifically focuses on the impact of climate risk perception, environmental knowledge, self-efficacy, and perceived response effectiveness on household adaptation behaviour by taking into account the mediating role of adaptation intention and the moderating role of community resilience. The data were taken from 230 households from six climate-vulnerable coastal districts (Khulna, Satkhira, Bagerhat, Barguna, Patuakhali, and Bhola) using a structured questionnaire with 5-point Likert scale items. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyse the proposed model. The results indicate that climate risk perception, environmental knowledge, self-efficacy, and perceived response effectiveness are significant factors that positively contribute to the formation of adaptation intention, which then determines household adaptation behaviour. The four antecedent variables' relationships with adaptation behaviour are also found to be significantly mediated by the variable adaptation intention. In addition, community resilience positively moderates between the relationship between adaptation intention and household adaptation behaviour, suggesting that community resilience can help to translate the intention to adapt into actual adaptation behaviour. The study is a contribution to the climate adaptation literature, as it proposes an integrated behavioural framework, and provides interesting policy implications for strengthening climate resilience through improved risk communication, environmental education, capacity building and community-based adaptation projects in climate-vulnerable coastal areas.