The Effects of Green Accounting, Ethical Sensitivity, and Climate Change Understanding on Environmental Awareness: The Moderating Role of Social Responsibility

Abstract

Background: Environmental degradation and climate change have intensified the need to strengthen environmental awareness among future professionals. For accounting students, knowledge of green accounting, ethical sensitivity, and climate change may shape their understanding of environmentally responsible practices. Aims: This study examines the effects of green accounting knowledge, ethical sensitivity, and climate change understanding on environmental awareness among accounting students, while assessing the moderating role of social responsibility. Methodology: A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted among 136 accounting students at Soegijapranata Catholic University who had completed or were currently enrolled in the Social and Environmental Accounting course. Data were collected through questionnaires and analysed using EViews 12. The analysis comprised descriptive statistics, classical assumption tests, multiple linear regression, and moderated regression analysis. Results: The research model was statistically significant and explained 74.55% of the variation in environmental awareness. Climate change understanding had a positive and significant effect on environmental awareness, whereas green accounting knowledge and ethical sensitivity did not have significant direct effects. Social responsibility did not significantly moderate the relationships between green accounting knowledge and environmental awareness or between ethical sensitivity and environmental awareness. However, it significantly moderated the relationship between climate change understanding and environmental awareness, with a negative interaction coefficient indicating a weakening effect. Conclusion: Climate change understanding was the principal direct predictor of environmental awareness in this sample. The findings indicate that knowledge and ethical sensitivity alone may not necessarily translate into stronger environmental awareness among accounting students. Sustainability education may therefore need to connect conceptual learning with practical environmental engagement, while the role of social responsibility should be interpreted carefully in relation to climate change understanding.