IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0252105.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Outcome expectancies moderate the association between worry about climate change and personal energy-saving behaviors

Author

Listed:
  • Thea Gregersen
  • Rouven Doran
  • Gisela Böhm
  • Wouter Poortinga

Abstract

This paper explores whether efficacy beliefs can alter the relationship between worry about climate change and personal energy-saving behaviors, controlling for climate change beliefs and socio-demographics. For this purpose, we used data from 23 countries that participated in the European Social Survey Round 8 (N = 44 387). Worry about climate change, personal efficacy, personal outcome expectancy, and collective outcome expectancy were each associated with personal energy-saving behaviors concerning either energy curtailment or energy efficiency. The results further show that outcome expectancies moderate the association between worry about climate change and both types of energy behaviors. Worry was more strongly related to energy curtailment behaviors among those with high levels of personal and collective outcome expectancy. A similar pattern was found for energy efficiency behaviors, which were more strongly predicted by worry about climate change when combined with high levels of collective outcome expectancy. These findings are relevant for climate change communication, especially informational campaigns aiming to lower overall household energy use.

Suggested Citation

  • Thea Gregersen & Rouven Doran & Gisela Böhm & Wouter Poortinga, 2021. "Outcome expectancies moderate the association between worry about climate change and personal energy-saving behaviors," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(5), pages 1-19, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0252105
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0252105
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0252105
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0252105&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0252105?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wang, Zhaohua & Zhang, Bin & Yin, Jianhua & Zhang, Yixiang, 2011. "Determinants and policy implications for household electricity-saving behaviour: Evidence from Beijing, China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 3550-3557, June.
    2. Wicker, Pamela & Becken, Susanne, 2013. "Conscientious vs. ambivalent consumers: Do concerns about energy availability and climate change influence consumer behaviour?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 41-48.
    3. Samuel Brody & Himanshu Grover & Arnold Vedlitz, 2012. "Examining the willingness of Americans to alter behaviour to mitigate climate change," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1), pages 1-22, January.
    4. Nauges, Céline & Wheeler, Sarah Ann, 2017. "The Complex Relationship Between Households' Climate Change Concerns and Their Water and Energy Mitigation Behaviour," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 87-94.
    5. Daniel Hanss & Gisela Böhm & Rouven Doran & Andreas Homburg, 2016. "Sustainable Consumption of Groceries: the Importance of Believing that One Can Contribute to Sustainable Development," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(6), pages 357-370, November.
    6. Hori, Shiro & Kondo, Kayoko & Nogata, Daisuke & Ben, Han, 2013. "The determinants of household energy-saving behavior: Survey and comparison in five major Asian cities," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 354-362.
    7. Boudet, Hilary S. & Flora, June A. & Armel, K. Carrie, 2016. "Clustering household energy-saving behaviours by behavioural attribute," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 444-454.
    8. Gerhard Reese & Eva A. Junge, 2017. "Keep on Rockin’ in a (Plastic-)Free World: Collective Efficacy and Pro-Environmental Intentions as a Function of Task Difficulty," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-13, February.
    9. Taciano L. Milfont, 2012. "The Interplay Between Knowledge, Perceived Efficacy, and Concern About Global Warming and Climate Change: A One‐Year Longitudinal Study," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(6), pages 1003-1020, June.
    10. Nicholas Smith & Anthony Leiserowitz, 2014. "The Role of Emotion in Global Warming Policy Support and Opposition," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 34(5), pages 937-948, May.
    11. Steg, Linda, 2008. "Promoting household energy conservation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 4449-4453, December.
    12. Cayla, Jean-Michel & Maizi, Nadia & Marchand, Christophe, 2011. "The role of income in energy consumption behaviour: Evidence from French households data," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 7874-7883.
    13. Han, Myat Su & Cudjoe, Dan, 2020. "Determinants of energy-saving behavior of urban residents: Evidence from Myanmar," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    14. Poortinga, Wouter & Steg, Linda & Vlek, Charles & Wiersma, Gerwin, 2003. "Household preferences for energy-saving measures: A conjoint analysis," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 49-64, February.
    15. Yang, Shu & Zhang, Yanbing & Zhao, Dingtao, 2016. "Who exhibits more energy-saving behavior in direct and indirect ways in china? The role of psychological factors and socio-demographics," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 196-205.
    16. Charles A. Ogunbode & Rouven Doran & Gisela Böhm, 2020. "Exposure to the IPCC special report on 1.5 °C global warming is linked to perceived threat and increased concern about climate change," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 158(3), pages 361-375, February.
    17. Wen Xue & Donald W. Hine & Anthony D. G. Marks & Wendy J. Phillips & Patrick Nunn & Shouying Zhao, 2016. "Combining threat and efficacy messaging to increase public engagement with climate change in Beijing, China," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 137(1), pages 43-55, July.
    18. Anne M. van Valkengoed & Linda Steg, 2019. "Meta-analyses of factors motivating climate change adaptation behaviour," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 9(2), pages 158-163, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jabulile Happyness Mzimela & Inocent Moyo, 2023. "A Systematic Review of Collective Efficacy for Supporting Adaptation-Related Responses to Climate Hazards," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-15, June.
    2. Martin, Gina & Cosma, Alina & Roswell, Tasha & Anderson, Martin & Treble, Matthew & Leslie, Kathleen & Card, Kiffer G. & Closson, Kalysha & Kennedy, Angel & Gislason, Maya, 2023. "Measuring negative emotional responses to climate change among young people in survey research: A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 329(C).
    3. Peter Dirksmeier & Leonie Tuitjer, 2023. "Do trust and renewable energy use enhance perceived climate change efficacy in Europe?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(8), pages 8753-8776, August.
    4. Niall McLoughlin, 2021. "Communicating efficacy: How the IPCC, scientists, and other communicators can facilitate adaptive responses to climate change without compromising on policy neutrality," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 169(1), pages 1-14, November.
    5. Liobikienė, Genovaitė & Matiiuk, Yuliia & Krikštolaitis, Ričardas, 2023. "The concern about main crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and climate change's impact on energy-saving behavior," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. 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.
    2. Sylwia Słupik & Joanna Kos-Łabędowicz & Joanna Trzęsiok, 2021. "Energy-Related Behaviour of Consumers from the Silesia Province (Poland)—Towards a Low-Carbon Economy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-23, April.
    3. Quaglione, Davide & Cassetta, Ernesto & Crociata, Alessandro & Sarra, Alessandro, 2017. "Exploring additional determinants of energy-saving behaviour: The influence of individuals' participation in cultural activities," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 503-511.
    4. Zhou, Kaile & Yang, Shanlin, 2016. "Understanding household energy consumption behavior: The contribution of energy big data analytics," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 810-819.
    5. Belaïd, Fateh & Joumni, Haitham, 2020. "Behavioral attitudes towards energy saving: Empirical evidence from France," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    6. Guo Li & Wenling Liu & Zhaohua Wang & Mengqi Liu, 2017. "An empirical examination of energy consumption, behavioral intention, and situational factors: evidence from Beijing," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 255(1), pages 507-524, August.
    7. Nieves García-de-Frutos & José Manuel Ortega-Egea & Javier Martínez-del-Río, 2018. "Anti-consumption for Environmental Sustainability: Conceptualization, Review, and Multilevel Research Directions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(2), pages 411-435, March.
    8. Licheng Sun & Qunwei Wang & Shilong Ge, 2018. "Urban resident energy-saving behavior: a case study under the A2SC framework," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 91(2), pages 515-536, March.
    9. Yue, Ting & Long, Ruyin & Chen, Hong, 2013. "Factors influencing energy-saving behavior of urban households in Jiangsu Province," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 665-675.
    10. Ann Bostrom & Adam L. Hayes & Katherine M. Crosman, 2019. "Efficacy, Action, and Support for Reducing Climate Change Risks," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 39(4), pages 805-828, April.
    11. Raya Muttarak & Thanyaporn Chankrajang, 2015. "Who is concerned about and takes action on climate change? Gender and education divides among Thais," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 13(1), pages 193-220.
    12. Han, Myat Su & Cudjoe, Dan, 2020. "Determinants of energy-saving behavior of urban residents: Evidence from Myanmar," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    13. Katherine M. Crosman & Ann Bostrom & Adam L. Hayes, 2019. "Efficacy Foundations for Risk Communication: How People Think About Reducing the Risks of Climate Change," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 39(10), pages 2329-2347, October.
    14. Tampakis, Stilianos & Arabatzis, Garyfallos & Tsantopoulos, Georgios & Rerras, Ioannis, 2017. "Citizens’ views on electricity use, savings and production from renewable energy sources: A case study from a Greek island," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 39-49.
    15. Belaïd, Fateh & Garcia, Thomas, 2016. "Understanding the spectrum of residential energy-saving behaviours: French evidence using disaggregated data," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 204-214.
    16. Ramachandra, T.V. & Bajpai, Vishnu & Kulkarni, Gouri & Aithal, Bharath H. & Han, Sun Sheng, 2017. "Economic disparity and CO2 emissions: The domestic energy sector in Greater Bangalore, India," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 1331-1344.
    17. Zou, Baoling & Mishra, Ashok K., 2020. "Appliance usage and choice of energy-efficient appliances: Evidence from rural Chinese households," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    18. Kabeya Clement Mulamba, 2020. "Relationship between education and households? electricity-saving behaviour in South Africa: A multilevel logistic analysis," ECONOMICS AND POLICY OF ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2020(2), pages 51-74.
    19. WeiYu Ji & Edwin H. W. Chan, 2019. "Critical Factors Influencing the Adoption of Smart Home Energy Technology in China: A Guangdong Province Case Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-24, November.
    20. Emőke Kiss & Dániel Balla & András Donát Kovács, 2022. "Characteristics of Climate Concern—Attitudes and Personal Actions—A Case Study of Hungarian Settlements," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-22, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0252105. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.