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

Abstract

People with physical impairments can help solve energy problems by participating in diverse energy-saving behaviors, such as switching off lights or turning off an air conditioner when not in use; however, they may struggle to participate in some behaviors due to mobility impairments. This study aims to examine factors that impact the energy-saving behaviors of high school students with physical impairments. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) was used to test whether attitudes towards energy-saving behaviors, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control could affect intentions, which then leads to performance of energy-saving behaviors. The participants were 330 high school students with physical impairments in Thailand. A questionnaire was employed to measure energy-saving behaviors and TPB constructs. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to validate all study variables; structural equation modeling (SEM) was then used to test causal relationships among TPB constructs and energy-saving behaviors. The results showed that the TPB could be used to explain the energy-saving behaviors of students with physical impairments, that subjective norms were the most significant predictor of behavioral intentions, and that intentions significantly impacted energy-saving behaviors. While perceived behavioral control did not have a direct effect on behaviors, it had a significant effect on intentions. Under the TPB construct, of the studied variables, attitude had the lowest power to predict students’ intentions to perform the concerned behaviors; however, the impact of attitude was still statistically significant. The results suggest that all TPB variables can predict energy-saving behaviors of high school students with physical impairments, but their power to predict the behaviors is different. To promote student participation in energy-saving behaviors, it is important to create subjective norms and eliminate obstacles that students with physical impairments might face when performing energy-saving behaviors.

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“…It is considered as a behavioral outcome indicator in numerous theories, including TPB [ 36 ]. Intention has also been suggested as the best predictor of PEB [ 38 ] and energy-saving behavior [ 15 , 54 ] in past studies. Mixed study models have also considered it in connection to self-determination [ 55 ] and personal norms [ 56 ] in the context of energy conservation at work [ 21 ].…”

“…Multiple studies on conservation behaviors have accordingly recently applied the TPB in both organizational and domestic settings [ 37 ]. In most studies, subjective norm has been found to be the parameter that mostly affects intention to act pro-environmentally [ 38 , 40 ] and to conserve energy [ 54 ] in the TPB model. However, in other studies subjective norm had no direct effect on pro-environmental behavioral intentions [ 41 ].…”

“…Attitude and perceived behavioral control has had a direct influence on pro-environmental behavioral intentions which encourage active engagement in pro-environmental behaviors [ 40 , 41 ]. Perceived behavioral control has also had a significant effect on energy conservation intentions of students with physical impairments but not a direct effect on their behaviors, while attitude had the lowest power to predict intentions to perform energy-saving behaviors [ 54 ].…”

“…TPB has also been employed to explain pro-environmental behavior at work [ 11 , [84] , [85] , [86] ] and, extended with perceived habit, it has also been utilized to explain energy-saving behaviors [ 54 ] and office energy-saving behaviors in specific [ 19 ]. Moreover, since behavioral control includes both the capacity and autonomy in performing a behavior, we deduce that, in the case of energy-saving at work – where a multitude of energy-consuming devices are shared (e.g.…”

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“…484.2 -1037.6 kWh/year/household (Jareemit and Limmeechokchai 2019). Energy-saving behaviors are widely promoted as a solution to growing energy-related problems (Suntornsan, Chudech, and Janmaimool 2022). However, as concluded by Sony and Mekoth (2018), electricity-saving behavior "represents a significant untapped potential".…”