Dissecting behavioral inertia in shaping different resident participation behaviors in neighborhood regeneration: A quantitative behavioral experiment

Research on resident participation in neighborhood regeneration provides valuable insights for urban policymakers in environmental governance. While previous studies have extensively examined various influencing factors, they often neglect the impact of behavioral inertia. To address this gap, this study conducts a behavioral experiment to quantitatively assess the presence and impact of behavioral inertia on residents' governance and financial participation behaviors. A total of 576 valid survey questionnaires were collected, and conditional logit model and ordered logit model were utilized for analysis. The study reveals that behavioral inertia is indeed observable in residents' governance participation and financial participation behaviors. Furthermore, the findings underscore distinct drivers of behavioral inertia for these two types of participation behaviors, with emotional reactions predominantly influencing governance participation, while short-term thinking largely shapes financial participation. Theoretically, this study uses the innovative concept of “behavioral inertia” to offer a new explanatory framework for aspects of behavior that cannot be solely explained by the attributes of regeneration plans. Furthermore, the behavioral experiments utilized in this study exemplify how the research framework of behavioral science can be applied to the study of urban governance in a broad context internationally. Practically, the research findings provide valuable insights for urban policymakers to tailor measures aimed at promoting resident participation and fostering sustainable urban development.