The Factors Affecting Household Electricity Saving Behavior: A Study in Vietnam

Abstract

In the context of dramatically increase in electricity demand, Vietnam's potential for power supply remains limited. Research and promotion of electricity saving behavior of households become significant to reduce electricity consumption and protect ecological environment. This study incorporates elements of planned behavior theory (TPB) and norm activation model (NAM) as the basis for developing and extending key assumptions. In addition, expansion TPB is used to study influence factors affecting electricity saving behavior. Through a sample of 395 randomly selected residents in Tay Ninh Province and Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam, the proposals were checked using a structural equation model (SEM). The results showed that the factors in TPB and NAM (such as perceived behavioral control, subjective norm, attitude, personal moral norm) and additional factor (perceived benefit) are the important factors that influence resident's intention of saving electricity. Moreover, electricity saving behavior is strongly influenced by the intention of saving electricity, perceived benefit, policy and social propaganda. Based on these results, some inferences are drawn, and recommendations are made for policy makers and further research proposals are discussed.

The Role of the Theory of Planned Behavior in Explaining the Energy-Saving Behaviors of High School Students with Physical Impairments

“…Olawale [ 52 ] also report that staff members’ intentions to perform energy-saving behaviors in a hotel are significantly impacted by attitude. Attitudes towards a behavior have also been reported to predict energy-saving behaviors in various counties [ 8 , 53 ]. Therefore, it may be assumed that attitude significantly impacts behavioral intention to perform energy-saving behaviors.…”

“…Therefore, individuals with high perceived behavioral control are more likely to have the intention to perform energy-saving behaviors and to participate in such behaviors. Many previous studies have found that perceived behavioral control significantly predicts intention to perform energy-saving behaviors [ 8 , 49 , 58 , 60 ]. Luigina and Anna [ 58 ] find that, of the three factors in the TPB, perceived behavioral control has the strongest predictive power of intention to perform energy-saving behaviors among Italian people.…”

“…Currently, energy-saving behaviors are being widely promoted to solve energy-related problems. Many previous studies have explored strategies to enhance individual participation in energy-saving behaviors, but most of these focus on the participation of individuals with normal physical bodies [ 7 , 8 , 9 ]. However, people with physical impairments can also participate in energy-saving behaviors, and their participation in these behaviors can contribute to a great amount of energy saved.…”

Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior to Analyze Household Energy-Saving Behavior

“…Subjective norms are the best predictor of a person's behavior (Caputo, 2020;La Barbera and Ajzen, 2020). Several studies have demonstrated a positive relationship between subjective norms and household energysaving intention (Hori et al, 2013;Chen et al, 2017;Wang et al, 2018a;Ding et al, 2019;Mansor and Sheau-Tingi, 2019;Nie et al, 2019;Hien and Chi, 2020). Thus, the research hypothesis H1 is proposed as follows: Subjective norms positively affect the intention to save energy in households.…”

“…Perceived economic benefits and environmental benefits have a positive influence on the behavioral intention to save energy (Wang et al, 2011;Zhang et al, 2014). Studies related to energy-saving behavioral intention topics have shown that perceived benefits have a positive effect on household energy-saving intentions (Banfi et al, 2008;Dianshu et al, 2010;Wang et al, 2011;Zhang et al, 2014;Steinhorst et al, 2015;Zhou and Yang, 2016;Hien and Chi, 2020;Fu et al, 2021;Ahmad et al, 2022). Then, the research hypothesis H3 is proposed as follows: Perceived benefits positively impact the intention to save energy in households.…”