Influence of Environmental Concern and Knowledge on Households’ Willingness to Purchase Energy-Efficient Appliances: A Case Study in Shanxi, China

Abstract

With the increases in residents’ household energy consumption and carbon emissions, to conserve regional energy and reduce emissions, studying the factors affecting residents’ willingness to purchase energy-efficient appliances and their mechanisms of action is necessary. In this research, based on the theory of extended planned behavior and combined with environmental concern variables and environmental knowledge variables, a model of the factors influencing residents’ willingness to purchase energy-efficient appliances was constructed and an empirical study of urban residents in Shanxi Province, China was conducted. The research indicates that environmental concern, environmental knowledge, attitude, and perceived behavioral control are significantly positively correlated with residents’ willingness to purchase energy-efficient appliances. The influence of subjective norms on the willingness of residents to purchase energy-efficient appliances is not significant; environmental concern and environmental knowledge have a positive impact on attitudes and indirectly affect residents’ willingness to purchase energy-efficient appliances. This study focuses on improvement and research from the perspectives of theoretical expansion, indirect impact test, and analysis of typical underdeveloped energy-rich regions. This study provides corresponding policy suggestions from the perspectives of education and guidance, sales and marketing, and independent improvement for the government, sellers, and residents, to improve the residents’ willingness to purchase energy-efficient appliances.

The Concern about Biodiversity as a Criterion for the Classification of the Sustainable Consumer: A Cross-Cultural Approach

“…Thus, the non-concerned segment responds to an initial stage where the consumer does not show any interest at all in the biodiversity, whereas the influencer segment represents a stage where the level of consumer involvement with biodiversity concerns translates not only into the purchase of biodiversity-friendly products but also into the support of the trend through the development of initiatives that contributes to raising awareness in our society. These results are in line with previous studies in which evidence of a positive relationship between environmental concern and the willingness to buy green products was found [29][30][31][36][37][38][39][40].…”

“…Several studies have shown that environmental concern has a significant impact on the predisposition to buy green products [36][37][38][39][40]. Other authors pointed out that consumers concerned about the environment have more positive attitudes towards organic food [41][42][43][44] and buy more organic products [45].…”

Do Consumers Really Want to Reduce Plastic Usage? Exploring the Determinants of Plastic Avoidance in Food-Related Consumption Decisions

“…Hence, PL_CON was expressed by three items, measured on a scale ranging from 1 (= strongly disagree), to 7 (= strongly agree), adapted from the Eurobarometer 468 survey [60]. Furthermore, when dealing with the role of environmental concern on PEBs, most of past studies used unspecific measures to be associated with specific behaviors [61][62][63]. This approach implies not accounting for some peculiar determinants that can be strictly related to the specific behavior under study, and not with others.…”

Effect of Domestic and Global Environmental Events on Environmental Concern and Environmental Responsibility among University Students

“…Many studies have explored the essential role of environmental knowledge and environmental attitudes in promoting an individual sense of environmental responsibility and pro-environmental behaviors [20,21]. Some previous studies have also identified the roles of environmental concerns in predicting people's environmentally-related behaviors [22][23][24], as well as the link between attitudes toward the environment and environmental concerns [25]. However, the influence of global and domestic environmental concerns, generated from the recent occurrence of catastrophic environmental events, on the relationship between knowledge/attitudes and a sense of environmental responsibility has never been investigated.…”