Residential Energy Conservation: The Role of Past Experience in Repetitive Household Behavior

This article focuses on repetitive behaviors that conserve residential energy. It views repetitive behavior as a function of past experience, attitudes, subjective norms, and intentions. Data from a three-wave panel survey of homeowners living in Decatur, Illinois, form the basis for statistical ana...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environment and behavior 1983-03, Vol.15 (2), p.123-141
Main Authors: Macey, Susan M., Brown, Marilyn A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Conservation
High frequencies
Households
Norms
Panels
Policies
Residential energy
Statistical analysis
Citations: Items that this one cites
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Summary:This article focuses on repetitive behaviors that conserve residential energy. It views repetitive behavior as a function of past experience, attitudes, subjective norms, and intentions. Data from a three-wave panel survey of homeowners living in Decatur, Illinois, form the basis for statistical analysis. Findings indicate that for conservation behavior that is repetitive at a high frequency, adoption is best predicted by past experience, while for less frequent behaviors, intention is the best predictor. Intentions, in turn, are affected by past experience, attitudes, and subjective norms. Adopters and nonadopters are found to differ in the mechanisms through which their intentions change: Adopters alter intentions more through changing attitudes and nonadopters through changing social influences. Policy implications are discussed.
ISSN:0013-9165
1552-390X
DOI:10.1177/0013916583152001