Promoting pro-environmental behaviors requires the identification of the factors that encourage individuals to act environmentally and that prevent them from doing so. Individuals' perception of human-induced climate change and environmental degradation as a moral problem makes it easier for them to take responsibility and act on this issue. When individuals do not act in line with their moral standards, they use various methods (e.g., moral disengagement strategies) to avoid negative emotions and cognitive dissonance. Although the negative role of moral disengagement on pro-social behavior has been addressed by various studies, there is limited research on how it plays a role in pro-environmental behavior. Moreover, most of the earlier work has depended on information from financially privileged nations, specifically those in the Global North. Therefore, to address these deficiencies in the existing literature, the primary objective of this study was to investigate the role of moral disengagement in explaining pro-environmental  behavior in a Global South country, Türkiye. Specifically, individuals believing that their pro-environmental behaviors can be effective are expected to exhibit less moral distancing and more pro-environmental behaviors regarding environmental issues. Findings demonstrated moral disengagement significantly and negatively predicted outcome expectancy. Moreover, it was observed that pro-environmental behaviors were predicted by moral disengagement negatively and by outcome expectancy positively. The indirect effect of outcome expectancy on pro-environmental behavior through moral disengagement is also significant. The findings were discussed within the related literature.
Keywords: moral disengagement, pro-environmental behaviors, outcome expectancy.