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Are You a Typical Energy Consumer? Socioeconomic Characteristics of Behavioural Segmentation Representatives of 8 European Countries

Author

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  • Sylwia Słupik

    (Department of Social and Economic Policy, University of Economics in Katowice, 1 Maja 50, 40-287 Katowice, Poland)

  • Joanna Kos-Łabędowicz

    (Department of International Economic Relations, University of Economics in Katowice, 1 Maja 50, 40-287 Katowice, Poland)

  • Joanna Trzęsiok

    (Department of Economic and Financial Analysis, University of Economics in Katowice, 1 Maja 50, 40-287 Katowice, Poland)

Abstract

Scarcity of resources and their waste, as well as deteriorating quality of life and the environment, are pressing problems of modern civilisations. Rational and efficient energy consumption is one of the possibilities for preventing harmful practices and the degradation of ecosystems. Understanding the consumer’s way of thinking and acting by identifying his needs and preferences are essential for effective efforts for smart, sustainable, and inclusive economic growth. Therefore, the aim of this article was a comprehensive socioeconomic analysis of particular behavioural types of energy consumers, as a continuation of the authors’ previous research. The paper uses statistical methods (chi-square test and correspondence analysis) dedicated to non-metric variables for an effective analysis of the data obtained from the questionnaires. The identification of socioeconomic factors was carried out on a representative sample of n = 4506 respondents from eight European countries (the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Spain, Germany, Poland, Romania, and the United Kingdom). This allowed for distinguishing a typical representative of five consumer segments (EI; AE; DS; O; I), developed on the basis of motivation to save energy. The authors succeeded in combining behavioural segmentation with the socioeconomic characteristics of the created classes. The results indicated that 10 out of 12 examined factors were significantly correlated with the behavioural type. These are (in order of significance): attitude towards saving energy; age; employment status; home country; the ownership status of the premises; the number of people in a household; average monthly income per person in a household; education; gender and place of residence.

Suggested Citation

  • Sylwia Słupik & Joanna Kos-Łabędowicz & Joanna Trzęsiok, 2021. "Are You a Typical Energy Consumer? Socioeconomic Characteristics of Behavioural Segmentation Representatives of 8 European Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-28, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:19:p:6109-:d:642781
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    1. Sylwia Słupik & Joanna Kos-Łabędowicz & Joanna Trzęsiok, 2021. "How to Encourage Energy Savings Behaviours? The Most Effective Incentives from the Perspective of European Consumers," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-25, November.
    2. Jikai Bi & Jae-Cheon Lee & Hao Liu, 2022. "Performance Comparison of Long Short-Term Memory and a Temporal Convolutional Network for State of Health Estimation of a Lithium-Ion Battery using Its Charging Characteristics," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-24, March.

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