Does environmental awareness change behavior? A correlational meta-analysis between environmental awareness and sustainable behavior

Environmental awareness is defined as the set of knowledge, values, and attitudes that structure the understanding of the impacts of human activity on the natural environment and its relationship with the adoption of sustainable behaviours in a global context characterised by increasing ecological pressures and sustainability challenges. These challenges position individual behaviour as a strategic axis of intervention. Within this framework, the objective of the research is to quantitatively synthesise the available empirical evidence on the relationship between environmental awareness and sustainable behaviour through a correlational meta-analysis developed under a quantitative approach, based on studies retrieved from the Scopus and Web of Science databases, and reported in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 declaration. This guarantees rigor, transparency, and reproducibility in the processes of identification, selection, and statistical analysis of the included studies. The findings indicate that the relationship between both constructs is empirically consistent but conceptually complex, with substantial variability between contexts and populations. Furthermore, the quantitative synthesis allows for the integration of dispersed evidence, the evaluation of the stability of the link, and the overcoming of the limitations of isolated individual studies. It has been demonstrated that environmental awareness does not emerge as a single or sufficient determinant of behaviour. Rather, it is an enabling condition whose translation into action depends on intermediate and contextual mechanisms. This finding serves to reinforce the need for comprehensive analytical approaches to understanding sustainable behaviour. Moreover, it provides robust evidence for theoretical, methodological, and applied advancement in the field of sustainability.