Adoption of Energy-Efficient Home Appliances: Extending the Theory of Planned Behavior

Abstract

This research applies an extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) to empirically investigate consumers’ intentions in Pakistan to purchase energy-efficient appliances (EEAs). Most developing countries face energy crises. As a result, many countries consider EEAs to be part of the solution to energy-related problems and teach sustainable consumption behavior to consumers. Previous studies have neglected developing countries in this context, yet developing markets have great potential for EEA adoption. To understand EEA adoption, we incorporated such variables as warm glow benefits, utilitarian environmental benefits, normative beliefs, and moral obligations as antecedents to TPB variables. The moderating effect of eco-literacy between attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control (PBC), and purchase intention toward EEAs are also examined. Data was gathered through a survey questionnaire from 673 Pakistani consumers to empirically test the proposed hypotheses. The results reveal that utilitarian environmental benefits and warm glow benefits significantly influence attitudes toward EEAs. The findings also show a positive effect of normative beliefs on subjective norms. The interaction effect of eco-literacy positively influences the relationship between attitude and purchase intention, with similar results for subjective norms and purchase intention. However, no significant moderating effect of eco-literacy is found between PBC and purchase intention. Furthermore, we performed multi-group analysis to explore significant group differences by utilizing socio-demographic variables such as gender, age, education, and income. The results show significant group differences, with females’ purchasing behavior, younger consumers, and educated consumers being more readily influenced. Finally, insights for policymakers, suggestions and future directions are discussed.

Promoting environmental sustainability: the influence of knowledge of eco-labels and altruism in the purchase of energy-efficient appliances

“…Azjen extended the theory of reasoned action (TRA) by Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) and proposed the TPB. TPB as an extended model has been widely used by researchers to predict green purchase behavior (Verma and Chandra, 2018), intention to utilize renewable power technologies (Jabeen et al , 2019) and the purchase intention of EEA (Waris and Ahmed, 2020; Aslam et al , 2020; Bhutto et al , 2021). The authors have extended the TPB by adding social, psychological and economic factors that affected the purchase of EEA.…”

“…In recent years, rapid technological developments have increased energy consumption and contributed to environmental pollution (Aslam et al , 2020; Jabeen et al , 2019). Due to technological developments and individual aspirations for high-tech products, the consumption of technological products has increased that contributed to environmental pollution (Bhutto et al , 2021; Waris and Hameed, 2020a). In this regard, many studies indicated that consumers reduced energy consumption through the use of energy-efficient products has contributed to environmental sustainability (Zhang et al , 2019; De Luca et al , 2018).…”

“…A recent study has indicated that household's direct (gasoline and electricity) and indirect (food and home) energy consumptions have substantially contributed to domestic energy consumptions (Song et al , 2019). Additionally, the energy consumption of household appliances has a huge share in urban consumption (Bhutto et al , 2021). In this regard, recent studies indicate that the energy-efficient appliances (EEA) would reduce carbon dioxide emissions and play an important role to preserve environmental sustainability (Waris and Hameed, 2020b; Rakshit and Mandal, 2020; Hu et al , 2018).…”

“…Such products include washing machines, air conditioners, refrigerators, air purifiers (Mattia et al , 2018). The recent work of researchers depicts that many factors affect a household's intention to use EEA (Bhutto et al , 2021; Waris and Ahmed, 2020; Sony and Mekoth, 2018). These factors are composed of three major categories: consumer characteristics, product factors and situational factors.…”

Effectiveness of China’s Labeling and Incentive Programs for Household Energy Conservation and Policy Implications

“…Thus, residential energy saving has become a priority in China. Understanding the energy efficiency policies to reduce residential energy consumption is an essential part of mitigating climate change, such as, most prominently, global warming [4]. Residential energy consumption can be reduced not only with technological advances in durables, but also with behavioral adjustments in the consumption of energy-using durables in buildings [5], as consumer behavior is at the core of many complex environmental problems [6,7].…”