The Effects of Environmental Education on Residents’ Ecological Security Behavior: The Mediating Role of Nature’s Psychological Ownership Perspective and The Moderating Role of Visual Fluency

Residents are one of the most significant stakeholder groups in ecologically vulnerable regions, and the local ecological environmental governance efforts require their active cooperation and participation. To this end, this study leverages the sampled survey data from residents across 14 cities in Guangxi, China, and uses a structural equation modeling analysis to explore the impact of environmental education perception on residents’ ecological security behavior. The results indicate that psychological ownership of nature plays a positive mediating role between environmental education perception and residents’ ecological security behavior, as well as between ecological consciousness and residents’ ecological security behavior, thereby supporting the idea that a sense of stewardship in protecting ecological security is a key factor in residents’ conversion of their ecological protection cognition into practical actions. Further research finds that visual fluency has a moderating effect on the relationship between environmental education perception and psychological ownership of nature. This study provides new insights into the theoretical understanding of the formation mechanism of residents’ ecological security behavior, enriches the theory of psychological ownership, and offers policy recommendations for governments implementing ecological environmental propaganda programs.