Better future with better us: Exploring young people's energy-saving behavior based on norm activation theory

Abstract

Conserving energy use is a shared responsibility of all people, and it is essential for mitigating climate warming. The purpose of this study is to investigate energy-saving behaviors and the influencing factors of young people. We developed a new theoretical framework by adding self-efficacy and information publicity to norm activation theory. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze 360 sample data from different regions in China. The findings show that attribution of responsibility and awareness of consequence are important prerequisites for personal norm. Personal norm positively influences energy-saving intention. Interestingly, information publicity has a significant positive effect on both intention and behavior to save energy, while self-efficacy only significantly affects energy-saving intention. This study focuses on the young group and enriches the research on factors influencing residents' energy-saving behaviors. The findings provide insightful ideas for governments and communities to guide individual energy conservation behaviors.

Keywords: PLS-SEM; energy-saving behavior of young people; information publicity; norm activation theory; self-efficacy.