Predicting household electricity saving behavior: The role of motivation and social need for consumption

Household electricity consumption in Iran is about 33% of total consumption and the electricity-saving behavior despite of emphases is still far from the desired level.

The aim of this study was to predict the behavior of household electricity saving in Iranian electricity consumers. The design used in this research was structural equation modeling and the statistical population included all electricity consumers across the country in 1400. Sampling was done by convenience sampling method and the sample size was estimated to be 256 using the Soper (2022) method, but the number of research participants was 684. Tools used for data collection included Demographic and Characteristics of Housing Questionnaire (DHC), Saving Electricity Scale based on Social Status Upgrading (SESSSU), Motivation toward Saving Energy Scale (MTSES), and Energy Saving Behavior Scale (ESBS), which included 57 questions and items. Data were collected  through Google Form and analyzed by Smart PLS 3.3.3 and SPSS 26 softwares using structural equation modeling method.

Findings showed that the the social need for consumption explains 35% of the motivation to save electricity (P=0.00). The results also showed that electricity saving motivation explained 38% of electricity saving behavior (P=0.00). Among the components of electricity saving motivation, the highest relationship with the main structure was observed in integrated motivation, identified motivation, internal motivation and introjected motivation.

Conclution:

 It seems that increasing in electricity-saving behavior is affected by stimulating motivation through social need to consume electricity. The findings of the present study can be used in policies and interventions that aim at consumer behavior and increase saving behaviors.