Abstract
This study explores how proactive personality and respondents' income influence preferences for urban air pollution mitigation programs in Poland. For this purpose, we conducted a choice experiment that elicited preferences for improving air quality, used a validated psychometric scale to measure proactivity, and collected information on individual income. To analyse the data, we employed a hybrid latent class model that accounts for heterogeneity in preferences. The model identified four distinct respondent classes: three supported public investments in air pollution mitigation, while one preferred maintaining the current situation. Our results indicate that proactive personality significantly increased the probability of belonging to the class that showed the strongest support for air quality improvement and had the highest willingness to pay for proposed changes. Interestingly, it also increased the probability of belonging to the class that preferred to keep the status quo. Individual income did not directly explain preference heterogeneity, but it was positively correlated with proactivity.