115 collective transilience in the face of climate change Additionally, the community initiative we studied (i.e., SensHagen) centred on a proxy behaviour that contributes to adaptation only indirectly (i.e. installing a sensor). Thus, future studies could probe the perceived ability to engage in relevant adaptation behaviours and to support relevant policies within the specific communities studied. Future research could also include more adaptive actions to validate the predictive power of collective transilience, such as support for local adaptation policies (measured only in Study 1) and political actions like protests or petitions urging local institutions to protect the community from climate risks (van Zomeren & Iyer, 2009). Such actions typically encourage others, beyond individuals alone, to also act. Moreover, including collaborative adaptive actions (e.g., pooling resources to plant trees in the neighbourhood) can highlight the relevance of collective transilience for promoting collaboration within the community. Besides adaptation actions, future studies could assess whether perceived collective transilience helps communities to change for the better, for instance whether members develop new and better ways of living as a community, such as more social cohesion and closer caring relationships. A shift towards a more collective and caring society has been proposed as a fundamental aspect of addressing climate change (Weintrobe, 2020). Given our cross-sectional design, causal conclusions cannot be drawn. Longitudinal or experimental designs are needed to determine if higher collective transilience leads to engagement in later adaptive actions, and if community-based adaptation can foster later collective transilience as well. Besides, sampling procedures may account for some differences in the results. Thus, more research is necessary to corroborate the generalizability of our findings. Practical Implications Climate change consequences are apparent worldwide, affecting individuals and communities. Therefore, individuals must act to protect both themselves and their communities from climate risks. While most of the participants in our studies had not engaged in community-based adaptation and showed low intentions to do so, our research implies that promoting collective transilience may foster such adaptive actions. Thus, strengthening collective transilience may boost community-based adaptation. Remarkably, we failed to increase levels of collective transilience using a message that emphasised only the risks posed by climate change to the community, compared to the individual (see Appendix A). It may be that messages also need to emphasise the capacity to persist, adapt flexibly, and positively transform as a community to effectively induce perceived collective transilience. Indeed, threat messages alone may fail to motivate action, as people also require information on what actions they could take (McLoughlin, 2021). Future research should examine how to induce collective transilience and promote widespread adaptation effectively. 4
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTk4NDMw