As a result of heat-trapping pollution from human activities, rising sea levels and increasing precipitation could within three decades push chronic floods on land currently home to more than 300 million people. Water levels in the Great Lakes, heavy rainfall, and flooding have all substantially increased in Michigan, causing erosion, water quality decline, and negative impacts on society. Taking action to mitigate flooding at all scales is essential to ensure social and economic sustainability. This study explores predictor variables of flood mitigation behaviors among Michigan residents in a proposed theoretical framework that synthesizes three behavioral theories: Theory of Planned Behavior, Values-Beliefs-Norms, and Protection Motivation Theory. This study also includes empirically measured actual flood risk in the theoretical framework, which is often left out in behavioral studies. Actual flood risk alone was found to weakly align with perceived flood risk and was a significant predictor of flood mitigation behavior during regression. However, when other variables were included, actual flood risk became an insignificant part of the model. Instead, subjective norms, perceived flood risk, self-efficacy, education level, having a flood-related home inspection, and having a basement emerged as significant predictors of flood mitigation behaviors. These findings lay the groundwork for future research and have implications for planning around flood mitigation and policy within and beyond the Midwest region.
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