Energy and Resource-Saving Behaviours in European Union Countries: the Campbell’S Paradigm and Goal Framing Theory Approaches

EasyChair Preprint 4018

Abstract

The promotion of energy and resource-saving behaviour is one of the primary tools seeking energy and resource efficiency. Analysing different types of energy and resource-saving behaviours in the European Union (EU) countries and referring to the Campbell’s paradigm and goal framing theory, the objective of this study was to reveal whether the environmental and health concerns and environmental responsibility equally influenced the pro-environmental behaviour, and whether all types of behaviours related to energy and resource-saving were guided by the same goals. The results showed that the performance of energy and resource-saving behaviours varied across European countries. The largest share of respondents performed many actions related to energy and resource saving in Sweden, Finland, and Luxemburg. In Bulgaria, Romania, and Croatia, 21-17% of respondents declared that they engaged in no action which could lead to resource-saving. Furthermore, respondents who were more concerned about environmental issues and health and were more environmentally responsible tended to perform a variety of actions related to energy and resource-saving. Considering separate behaviours related to energy and resource-saving, environmental responsibility significantly and positively influenced all behaviours. Environmental concern significantly and positively determined all types of behaviours except water-saving behaviour. Health concerns significantly and positively influenced only the avoidance of buying over-packaged products. Analysing the relationships among separate behaviours, we revealed that behaviours related to energy and resource-saving were guided by different goals and the cost of these behaviours are different. Thus, policymakers should consider these goals to promote energy and resource-saving behaviour in the household sector.

Keyphrases: environmental concern responsibility, pro-environmental behaviour, resource saving

@booklet{EasyChair:4018,
  author    = {Genovaitė Liobikiene and Audronė Minelgaite},
  title     = {Energy and Resource-Saving Behaviours in European Union Countries: the Campbell’S Paradigm and Goal Framing Theory Approaches},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 4018},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2020}}