IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v182y2023ics1364032123002447.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How social interaction shapes habitual and occasional low-carbon consumption behaviors: Evidence from ten cities in China

Author

Listed:
  • Cheng, Xiu
  • Long, Ruyin
  • Wu, Fan
  • Geng, Jichao
  • Yang, Jiameng

Abstract

Low-carbon consumption behaviors (LCBs) are pivotal for alleviating climate change caused by human activities. Most current studies rarely distinguish between different types of LCBs, and fail to capture the multifaceted effects of social interaction and its situational boundaries on individual behavior. To address this drawback, this study divides LCBs into habitual low-carbon consumption behavior (HLCB) and occasional low-carbon consumption behavior (OLCB), and detects the effects of social interaction, attitudinal uncertainty, and knowledge distance on both behavior categories using data from 2139 residents of ten cities in China. The instrumental variable method, gender-based test, and data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) 2020 are used to check the robustness of the results. Although the findings indicate a positive linear relationship between social interaction and HLCB, they also indicate an inverted U-shaped association between social interaction and OLCB. Attitudinal uncertainty not only positively moderates the association between social interaction and HLCB but also reinforces the inverted U-shaped association between social interaction and OLCB. Furthermore, knowledge distance steepens the association between social interaction and OLCB, while no moderating effect is found between social interaction and HLCB. This study addresses an understudied component of the multifaceted effects of social interaction and sheds light on targeted policy schemes for different types of LCBs.

Suggested Citation

  • Cheng, Xiu & Long, Ruyin & Wu, Fan & Geng, Jichao & Yang, Jiameng, 2023. "How social interaction shapes habitual and occasional low-carbon consumption behaviors: Evidence from ten cities in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:182:y:2023:i:c:s1364032123002447
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2023.113387
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032123002447
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2023.113387?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cheng, Xiu & Wu, Fan & Long, Ruyin & Li, Wenbo, 2021. "Uncovering the effects of learning capacity and social interaction on the experienced utility of low-carbon lifestyle guiding policies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    2. Barr, Stewart & Gilg, Andrew W & Ford, Nicholas, 2005. "The household energy gap: examining the divide between habitual- and purchase-related conservation behaviours," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(11), pages 1425-1444, July.
    3. Wang, Qunwei & Zhou, Bo & Zhang, Cheng & Zhou, Dequn, 2021. "Do energy subsidies reduce fiscal and household non-energy expenditures? A regional heterogeneity assessment on coal-to-gas program in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    4. Karimi, Sahar & Holland, Christopher P. & Papamichail, K. Nadia, 2018. "The impact of consumer archetypes on online purchase decision-making processes and outcomes: A behavioural process perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 71-82.
    5. José M. de la Torre‐Ruiz & J. Alberto Aragón‐Correa & Inmaculada Martín‐Tapia, 2015. "Do Individual Preferences Affect the Environmental Decision‐Making Process in Teams? The Role of Participation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(6), pages 451-465, September.
    6. Babutsidze, Zakaria & Chai, Andreas, 2018. "Look at me Saving the Planet! The Imitation of Visible Green Behavior and its Impact on the Climate Value-Action Gap," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 290-303.
    7. Huang, Youlin & Qian, Lixian & Tyfield, David & Soopramanien, Didier, 2021. "On the heterogeneity in consumer preferences for electric vehicles across generations and cities in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    8. López-Sáez, Pedro & Cruz-González, Jorge & Navas-López, Jose Emilio & Perona-Alfageme, María del Mar, 2021. "Organizational integration mechanisms and knowledge transfer effectiveness in MNCs: The moderating role of cross-national distance," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(4).
    9. Pettifor, Hazel & Wilson, Charlie, 2020. "Low carbon innovations for mobility, food, homes and energy: A synthesis of consumer attributes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    10. Robert F. Nau, 2006. "Uncertainty Aversion with Second-Order Utilities and Probabilities," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(1), pages 136-145, January.
    11. Song, Malin & Xie, Qianjiao & Shen, Zhiyang, 2021. "Impact of green credit on high-efficiency utilization of energy in China considering environmental constraints," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    12. Anna Dreber & David G. Rand & Drew Fudenberg & Martin A. Nowak, 2008. "Winners don’t punish," Nature, Nature, vol. 452(7185), pages 348-351, March.
    13. Cheng, Xiu & Long, Ruyin & Chen, Hong & Yang, Jiahui, 2019. "Does social interaction have an impact on residents’ sustainable lifestyle decisions? A multi-agent stimulation based on regret and game theory," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C), pages 1-1.
    14. Owens, J. & Wilhite, H., 1988. "Household energy behavior in Nordic countries—an unrealized energy saving potential," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 13(12), pages 853-859.
    15. Ilke Aydogan, 2021. "Prior Beliefs and Ambiguity Attitudes in Decision from Experience," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(11), pages 6934-6945, November.
    16. Mi, Zhifu & Zhang, Yunkun & Guan, Dabo & Shan, Yuli & Liu, Zhu & Cong, Ronggang & Yuan, Xiao-Chen & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2016. "Consumption-based emission accounting for Chinese cities," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 1073-1081.
    17. Ehigiamusoe, Kizito Uyi & Dogan, Eyup, 2022. "The role of interaction effect between renewable energy consumption and real income in carbon emissions: Evidence from low-income countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    18. Lazaric, Nathalie & Toumi, Mira, 2022. "Reducing consumption of electricity: A field experiment in Monaco with boosts and goal setting," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    19. Hoffmann, Christin & Abraham, Charles & White, Mathew P. & Skippon, Stephen M., 2020. "Ambivalent about travel mode choice? A qualitative investigation of car user and non-car user attitudes," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 323-338.
    20. Risch, Anna, 2020. "Are environmental fiscal incentives effective in inducing energy-saving renovations? An econometric evaluation of the French energy tax credit," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    21. Agarwalla, Sobhesh Kumar & Barua, Samir K. & Jacob, Joshy & Varma, Jayanth R., 2015. "Financial Literacy among Working Young in Urban India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 101-109.
    22. van den Broek, Karlijn L. & Walker, Ian & Klöckner, Christian A., 2019. "Drivers of energy saving behaviour: The relative influence of intentional, normative, situational and habitual processes," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 811-819.
    23. Dominik Wiedenhofer & Dabo Guan & Zhu Liu & Jing Meng & Ning Zhang & Yi-Ming Wei, 2017. "Unequal household carbon footprints in China," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 75-80, January.
    24. Pothitou, Mary & Hanna, Richard F. & Chalvatzis, Konstantinos J., 2016. "Environmental knowledge, pro-environmental behaviour and energy savings in households: An empirical study," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 1217-1229.
    25. Büchs, Milena & Bahaj, AbuBakr S. & Blunden, Luke & Bourikas, Leonidas & Falkingham, Jane & James, Patrick & Kamanda, Mamusu & Wu, Yue, 2018. "Promoting low carbon behaviours through personalised information? Long-term evaluation of a carbon calculator interview," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 284-293.
    26. Kristina Jespersen & Damiana Rigamonti & Morten Berg Jensen & Rune Bysted, 2018. "Analysis of SMEs partner proximity preferences for process innovation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 879-904, December.
    27. Schwanen, Tim & Banister, David & Anable, Jillian, 2012. "Rethinking habits and their role in behaviour change: the case of low-carbon mobility," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 522-532.
    28. Jin, Jingliang & Zhou, Peng & Zhang, Mingming & Yu, Xianyu & Din, Hao, 2018. "Balancing low-carbon power dispatching strategy for wind power integrated system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 914-924.
    29. repec:nas:journl:v:115:y:2018:p:8734-8739 is not listed on IDEAS
    30. Peterson, Robert A, 1994. "A Meta-analysis of Cronbach's Coefficient Alpha," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 21(2), pages 381-391, September.
    31. Kim, Jeeyeon & Kim, Mingyung & Choi, Jeonghye & Trivedi, Minakshi, 2019. "Offline social interactions and online shopping demand: Does the degree of social interactions matter?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 373-381.
    32. Stephen G. Dimmock & Roy Kouwenberg & Peter P. Wakker, 2016. "Ambiguity Attitudes in a Large Representative Sample," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(5), pages 1363-1380, May.
    33. Zhang, Guijie & Wei, Fangfang & Jia, Ning & Ma, Shoufeng & Wu, Yi, 2019. "Information adoption in commuters’ route choice in the context of social interactions," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 300-316.
    34. Islam, A.K.M. Najmul & Laato, Samuli & Talukder, Shamim & Sutinen, Erkki, 2020. "Misinformation sharing and social media fatigue during COVID-19: An affordance and cognitive load perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    35. Nie, Hongguang & Kemp, René & Xu, Jin-Hua & Vasseur, Véronique & Fan, Ying, 2020. "Split incentive effects on the adoption of technical and behavioral energy-saving measures in the household sector in Western Europe," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    36. Tim Kurz & Benjamin Gardner & Bas Verplanken & Charles Abraham, 2015. "Habitual behaviors or patterns of practice? Explaining and changing repetitive climate‐relevant actions," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 6(1), pages 113-128, January.
    37. Diana Ivanova & Konstantin Stadler & Kjartan Steen-Olsen & Richard Wood & Gibran Vita & Arnold Tukker & Edgar G. Hertwich, 2016. "Environmental Impact Assessment of Household Consumption," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 20(3), pages 526-536, June.
    38. Young Kwark & Jianqing Chen & Srinivasan Raghunathan, 2018. "User-Generated Content and Competing Firms’ Product Design," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(10), pages 4608-4628, October.
    39. Jalas, Mikko & Juntunen, Jouni K., 2015. "Energy intensive lifestyles: Time use, the activity patterns of consumers, and related energy demands in Finland," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 51-59.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wang, Qiang & Wang, Lili & Li, Rongrong, 2023. "Could trade protectionism reshape the nexus of energy-economy-environment? Insight from different income groups," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).
    2. Saleem, Shaham & Zhang, Yixiang, 2024. "Impact of knowledge and trust on households' solar energy consumption behavior: Do social influence and gender matter?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 293(C).
    3. Tan, Yang & Ying, Xiaoyu & Ge, Jian & Gao, Weijun & Zhang, Li & Wang, Shuai, 2024. "Driving role of perceived psychological factors in households’ low-carbon behaviors: A study based on the Chinese household carbon generalized system of preferences," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 303(C).
    4. Lv, Fei & Wu, Qiong & Ren, Hongbo & Zhou, Weisheng & Li, Qifen, 2024. "On the design and analysis of long-term low-carbon roadmaps: A review and evaluation of available energy-economy-environment models," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 189(PA).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cheng, Xiu & Wu, Fan & Li, Wenbo & Yang, Jiameng & Long, Ruyin, 2024. "What maintains low-carbon consumption behaviors: Evidence from China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 189(PB).
    2. Cheng, Xiu & Li, Wenbo & Yang, Jiameng & Zhang, Linling, 2023. "How convenience and informational tools shape waste separation behavior: A social network approach," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(PB).
    3. Cheng, Xiu & Wu, Fan & Long, Ruyin & Li, Wenbo, 2021. "Uncovering the effects of learning capacity and social interaction on the experienced utility of low-carbon lifestyle guiding policies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    4. Xiu Cheng & Jiameng Yang & Yumei Jiang & Wenbin Liu & Yang Zhang, 2022. "Determinants of Proactive Low-Carbon Consumption Behaviors: Insights from Urban Residents in Eastern China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-15, May.
    5. Jakučionytė-Skodienė, Miglė & Liobikienė, Genovaitė, 2023. "Changes in energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the Lithuanian household sector caused by environmental awareness and climate change policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    6. Rabaa, Simon & Geisendorf, Sylvie & Wilken, Robert, 2022. "Why change does (not) happen: Understanding and overcoming status quo biases in climate change mitigation," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 45(1), pages 100-134.
    7. Chun-Hsi Vivian Chen & Yu-Cheng Chen, 2021. "Assessment of Enhancing Employee Engagement in Energy-Saving Behavior at Workplace: An Empirical Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-18, February.
    8. Huang, Liqiao & Long, Yin & Chen, Jundong & Yoshida, Yoshikuni, 2023. "Sustainable lifestyle: Urban household carbon footprint accounting and policy implications for lifestyle-based decarbonization," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    9. Pottier, Antonin, 2022. "Expenditure elasticity and income elasticity of GHG emissions: A survey of literature on household carbon footprint," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    10. Liang, Longwu & Chen, Mingxing & Zhang, Xiaoping & Sun, Mingxing, 2024. "Understanding changes in household carbon footprint during rapid urbanization in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    11. Du, Mingxi & Wang, Xiaoge & Peng, Changhui & Shan, Yuli & Chen, Huai & Wang, Meng & Zhu, Qiuan, 2018. "Quantification and scenario analysis of CO2 emissions from the central heating supply system in China from 2006 to 2025," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 225(C), pages 869-875.
    12. Aurélien Baillon & Zhenxing Huang & Asli Selim & Peter P. Wakker, 2018. "Measuring Ambiguity Attitudes for All (Natural) Events," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 86(5), pages 1839-1858, September.
    13. Sylwia Słupik & Joanna Kos-Łabędowicz & Joanna Trzęsiok, 2021. "Energy-Related Behaviour of Consumers from the Silesia Province (Poland)—Towards a Low-Carbon Economy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-23, April.
    14. Zhihua Li & Julia Müller & Peter P. Wakker & Tong V. Wang, 2018. "The Rich Domain of Ambiguity Explored," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(7), pages 3227-3240, July.
    15. Jiansheng Qu & Lina Liu & Jingjing Zeng & Tek Narayan Maraseni & Zhiqiang Zhang, 2022. "City-Level Determinants of Household CO 2 Emissions per Person: An Empirical Study Based on a Large Survey in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-14, June.
    16. Agarwal, Vikas & Arisoy, Y. Eser & Naik, Narayan Y., 2017. "Volatility of aggregate volatility and hedge fund returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(3), pages 491-510.
    17. Spandagos, Constantine & Yarime, Masaru & Baark, Erik & Ng, Tze Ling, 2020. "“Triple Target” policy framework to influence household energy behavior: Satisfy, strengthen, include," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    18. Jin Zhang & Lianrui Ma & Jinkai Li, 2021. "Why Low-Carbon Publicity Effect Limits? The Role of Heterogeneous Intention in Reducing Household Energy Consumption," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-17, November.
    19. Keyu Wu & Ernst Fehr & Sean Hofland & Martin Schonger, 2024. "On the Psychological Foundations of Ambiguity and Compound Risk Aversion," CESifo Working Paper Series 11150, CESifo.
    20. König-Kersting, Christian & Kops, Christopher & Trautmann, Stefan T., 2023. "A test of (weak) certainty independence," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:182:y:2023:i:c:s1364032123002447. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.