Customer Attitudes to Water Use and Its Conservation

Abstract

Aims: Understanding how customers engage with and view their water usage is crucial to the design of more effective water demand management policies and programmes. This paper presents the findings of a small-scale research project that sought to explore customer attitudes to the use of water and its conservation, particularly in the context of seasonal tariffs used during the summer peak usage months (May to August). Study Design: The study adopted a qualitative approach, implemented through a series of faceto-face semi-structured interviews. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted with domestic water users in Bishops Stortford, East Hertfordshire (UK). The research was carried out by staff from the School of Life and Medical Sciences at the University Hertfordshire. The study was conducted over a period of 6 weeks. Methodology: A series of 20 face-to-face semi-structured interviews were carried out with a predefined sample population. The selected customers were split into two equal sized groups depending on their relative water usage to reflect either an increase or a decrease in water usage [as a consequence of Affinity Water's seasonal tariff trial]. Results and Discussion: The study highlights study participants as being disengaged from their water usage and the associated efforts to reduce their usage, so simply increasing water prices at seasonal peak usage times was not, on this occasion, an effective method to adopt to reduce domestic water usage. However, by subsequently exploring customer attitudes towards a selected range of alternative water conservation measures, such as the subsidisation of water efficient appliances, and rebates for reduced water usage, it is established that alternative water conservation measures may have the potential to more effectively encourage a reduction in water usage. However, as the findings of this study also serve to highlight, the issue of 'institutional trust'

Role of Trust in Adopting Consumer Social Responsible Behaviour in the Context of Water Use in Domestic Households

“…Jorgensen, Graymore, and O'Toole (2009) proposed an integrated conceptual model including trust, although not statistically tested, dealing with household water use behaviour. Other scholars in qualitative research also mention the relevance of institutional trust in relation to water use and conservation (Jenkins, Pericli, and Palframan 2016;Probert et al 2014). To the best of our knowledge, Lowe, Lynch and Lowe (2015) were one of the first to conduct an empirical quantitative study in a drought-affected region of Australia wherein institutional sentiment towards the water authority's management of water was included as a construct.…”

“…This clearly supports the earlier-mentioned observation that CSR and CnSR need to be aligned (Devinney et al 2006;Vitell 2014). In their qualitative research, Jenkins, Pericli, and Palframan (2016) addressed trust in relation to the perceived fairness of water price/ tariff increases. They advise government and water companies to develop campaigns focusing on building trust between stakeholders.…”

“…The role of trust in this article used as an antecedent of sustainable water consumption has not been often addressed in the water sector literature. Scholars who did address trust have frequently approached it in a qualitative way (Jorgensen, Graymore and O'Toole 2009;Probert et al 2014;Jenkins, Pericli, and Palframan 2016). However, rarely is trust approached in a quantitative way (Miller and Buys 2008;Lowe, Lynch, and Lowe 2015).…”