Determinants of Consumer Intentions to Purchase Energy-Saving Household Products in Pakistan

Abstract

The looming threat of climate change has become an undeniable harsh reality. Inefficient energy consumption is one of the major causes of this threat. Protecting the aquatic and terrestrial environment by reducing carbon footprints is a shared responsibility. In this pursuit, the contribution of household sector is extremely valuable and use of energy-saving products can be helpful to epitomize the goal of achieving sustainability. This study aims to investigate the determinants of consumers’ intention to purchase energy-saving household products by integrating the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Technology Readiness Index (TRI) 2.0’s four indicators (optimism, innovativeness, discomfort and insecurity). This study applied a hypo deductive research approach. Using cross sectional data, a total 396 valid questionnaires were collected to validate the proposed hypothesis by using Partial Least Square (PLS) path modeling approach (a variance based SEM technique). Results showed that contributors of technology readiness positively influence residents’ attitude towards their buying intention, while inhibitors of technology readiness negatively affect this relationship. Further, attitude and perceived behavioral control were found to be significant determinants of intention to purchase energy-saving household products. Based on the above research findings, implications for marketers and policy makers are discussed, moreover future research directions are suggested.

Critical Factors Influencing the Adoption of Smart Home Energy Technology in China: A Guangdong Province Case Study

“…Generally, the perceived behavioral control (PBC) derived from TPB theory is also confirmed to have a positive relationship with the adoption intention of SHET. This finding is also consistent with many discoveries of previous research of energy saving behavior or energy efficient appliance adoption [19,20,44,49]. The relationship between PBC with adoption intention reflects the significance of some non-motivational factors [41].…”

“…What is more, Ritu Agarwal suggested that the person with innovativeness in one's personal trait would be more likely to adopt new technology [70]. Saqib Ai also confirmed the role of innovativeness as a human trait to influence consumers' attitude towards energy efficient appliances [19]. In a consumer acceptance analysis of home energy management system (HEMS) for Korean market, the authors identified social contribution, environmental responsibility, and innovativeness as influential factors [17].…”

“…A list of previous studies in the context of energy saving or pro-environmental behavior is shown in Table 1. However, given the complexity of human behavior and human nature, the current theories and studies are not capable to cover all the social and psychological factors as well as personal traits relevant with energy saving behavior [19,41].…”

“…In the previous research about the energy saving or environmental friendly behaviors, perceived behavioral control has been widely adopted into the theoretical model, and confirmed as a significant factor influencing the behavioral intention, including [18,20,[62][63][64]. Saqib Ali [19] verified that PBC is positively related to resident's purchase intention of household energy efficient appliances through a questionnaire survey in Pakistan. Therefore, this study has a similar expectation about PBC, and develop the below hypothesis: H3: Perceived behavioral control has a positive relation with resident's intention to adopt SHET.…”

“…The second part included the questions aiming to measurement indicators. The Likert Scale measurement method has been applied in many studies to analyze the questionnaire survey, such as [19,20,46,[73][74][75]. A five-point Likert scale is developed to measure variables in the survey, ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree.…”