IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jagris/v14y2024i7p1105-d1431650.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Perceived Status and Sustainable Actions: How Subjective Socioeconomic Status Drives Green Energy Consumption in Chinese Households

Author

Listed:
  • Yi Ren

    (School of Economics and Management, Sichuan Normal University, 1819 Chenglong Ave., Chengdu 610101, China)

  • Linmei Zhuang

    (School of National Safety and Emergency Management, Beijing Normal University, 19 Xinjiekou Wai Ave., Beijing 100875, China
    Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, 19 Xinjiekou Wai Ave., Beijing 100875, China)

  • Dingde Xu

    (College of Management, Sichuan Agricultural University, 211 Huimin Road, Chengdu 611130, China)

Abstract

Household energy consumption plays a critical role in the context of global climate change. Utilizing data from the 2018 China Social Survey (CGSS), this study empirically examined the impact of subjective socioeconomic status (SES) on household green energy consumption behaviors using probit and ordered probit models. The mechanism of influence was further analyzed through the mediated effect approach. The results found include the following: (1) Although the proportion of households participating in green energy policies is similar to those not participating, the proportion of households deeply participating in multiple policies is very low; (2) subjective SES significantly influences both the rate and depth of household participation in green energy policies; (3) internet usage and understanding of green energy policies serve as mediating mechanisms for the promotive effect of subjective SES; and (4) subjective SES showed significant heterogeneity in its effects on different gender and education level groups. These findings contribute to the understanding of the drivers of household green energy use decisions and provide an important reference for governmental policymaking to enhance participation rates and degrees in green energy participation. Implications of these findings highlight the potential for targeted policies that address internet accessibility and educational outreach, which could significantly enhance the effectiveness of green energy initiatives across diverse socioeconomic groups.

Suggested Citation

  • Yi Ren & Linmei Zhuang & Dingde Xu, 2024. "Perceived Status and Sustainable Actions: How Subjective Socioeconomic Status Drives Green Energy Consumption in Chinese Households," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-20, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:14:y:2024:i:7:p:1105-:d:1431650
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/7/1105/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/7/1105/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. He, Jia & Qing, Chen & Guo, Shili & Zhou, Wenfeng & Deng, Xin & Xu, Dingde, 2022. "Promoting rural households' energy use for cooking: Using Internet," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    2. Li, Wenli & Yu, Youping & He, Qiang & Xu, Dingde & Qi, Yanbin & Deng, Xin, 2023. "Impact of clean energy use on the subjective health of household members: Empirical evidence from rural China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PD).
    3. Yan, Aqian & Luo, Xiaofeng & Zhang, Junbiao & Tang, Lin, 2024. "Does internet use promote clean energy use for cooking by women-headed rural households in China?," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    4. Bing Chen & Lijun Luo & Xin Wu & Yujie Chen & Yufang Zhao, 2021. "Are the Lower Class Really Unhappy? Social Class and Subjective Well-Being in Chinese Adolescents: Moderating Role of Sense of Control and Mediating Role of Self-Esteem," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 825-843, February.
    5. Guomin Li & Wei Li & Zihan Jin & Zhihao Wang, 2019. "Influence of Environmental Concern and Knowledge on Households’ Willingness to Purchase Energy-Efficient Appliances: A Case Study in Shanxi, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-18, February.
    6. Lipeng Li & Apurbo Sarkar & Xi Zhou & Xiuling Ding & Hua Li, 2022. "Influence and Action Mechanisms of Governmental Relations Embeddedness for Fostering Green Production Demonstration Household: Evidence from Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Anhui Province, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-25, September.
    7. Takashi Oshio & Maki Umeda & Norito Kawakami, 2013. "Childhood Adversity and Adulthood Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from Japan," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 843-860, June.
    8. Hajivassiliou, Vassilis & McFadden, Daniel & Ruud, Paul, 1996. "Simulation of multivariate normal rectangle probabilities and their derivatives theoretical and computational results," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1-2), pages 85-134.
    9. Geoffrey Heal, 2022. "Economic Aspects of the Energy Transition," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 83(1), pages 5-21, September.
    10. Xi Ouyang & Wen’e Qi & Donghui Song & Jianjun Zhou, 2022. "Does Subjective Well-Being Promote Pro-Environmental Behaviors? Evidence from Rural Residents in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-19, May.
    11. Kanzola, Anna-Maria & Papaioannou, Konstantina & Petrakis, Panagiotis E., 2023. "Environmental behavioral perceptions under uncertainty of alternative economic futures," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    12. Frost, Michelle Bellessa & Forste, Renata & Haas, David W., 2005. "Maternal education and child nutritional status in Bolivia: finding the links," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 395-407, January.
    13. Krishnamurthy Baskar Keerthana & Shih-Wei Wu & Mu-En Wu & Thangavelu Kokulnathan, 2023. "The United States Energy Consumption and Carbon Dioxide Emissions: A Comprehensive Forecast Using a Regression Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-20, May.
    14. Yongsong Wu & Yang Cao, 2023. "Research on the Influence of Ecological Environment Satisfaction and Income Level on Chinese Residents’ Happiness: Empirical Analysis Based on CGSS Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-18, May.
    15. Shuyun Li & Mingxue Wei & Ehsan Elahi & Zainab Khalid & Shaozhi Chen, 2023. "The Sustainable Impact of Import on Chinese Residents’ Happiness: Evidence from CGSS," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-18, April.
    16. Ma, Wanglin & Zhou, Xiaoshi & Renwick, Alan, 2019. "Impact of off-farm income on household energy expenditures in China: Implications for rural energy transition," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 248-258.
    17. Andrea Masini & E. Menichetti, 2012. "The impact of behavioural factors in the renewable energy investment decision making process: Conceptual framework and empirical findings," Post-Print hal-00651706, HAL.
    18. Ting Wang & Xue Wang & Tonglin Jiang & Shiyao Wang & Zhansheng Chen, 2021. "Under the Threat of an Epidemic: People with Higher Subjective Socioeconomic Status Show More Unethical Behaviors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-14, March.
    19. Marra, Alessandro & Colantonio, Emiliano, 2023. "On public policies in the energy transition: Evidence on the role of socio-technical regimes for renewable technologies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Zhu, Huanyu & Ma, Wanglin & Vatsa, Puneet & Zheng, Hongyun, 2023. "Clean energy use and subjective and objective health outcomes in rural China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    2. Muhammad Waqas Rana & Sufang Zhang & Shahid Ali & Iqra Hamid, 2022. "Investigating Green Financing Factors to Entice Private Sector Investment in Renewables via Digital Media: Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Development in the Post-COVID-19 Era," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-19, October.
    3. Yan, Aqian & Luo, Xiaofeng & Zhang, Junbiao & Tang, Lin, 2024. "Does internet use promote clean energy use for cooking by women-headed rural households in China?," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    4. Cao, Andi & Su, Mengying & Li, Houjian, 2024. "Digitizing the green revolution: E-commerce as a catalyst for clean energy transition in rural China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    5. Paleti, Rajesh, 2018. "Generalized multinomial probit Model: Accommodating constrained random parameters," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 248-262.
    6. Kifle T. Sebhatu & Fatemeh Taheri & Tekeste Berhanu & Miet Maertens & Steven Van Passel & Marijke D'Haese, 2021. "Beyond focus: Exploring variability of service provision of agricultural cooperatives," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 92(2), pages 207-231, June.
    7. Haaijer, Marinus E., 1996. "Predictions in conjoint choice experiments : the x-factor probit model," Research Report 96B22, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    8. Maria C. Lo Bue, 2024. "Drivers of changes in child nutritional conditions: A panel data‐based study on Indonesian households, 1997–2014," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 741-776, May.
    9. Park, Cheolsung & Kang, Changhui, 2008. "Does education induce healthy lifestyle?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 1516-1531, December.
    10. van den Bold, Mara & Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Gillespie, Stuart, 2013. "Women’s empowerment and nutrition: An evidence review," IFPRI discussion papers 1294, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    11. Jenner, Steffen & Groba, Felix & Indvik, Joe, 2013. "Assessing the strength and effectiveness of renewable electricity feed-in tariffs in European Union countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 385-401.
    12. Geweke, J. & Joel Horowitz & Pesaran, M.H., 2006. "Econometrics: A Bird’s Eye View," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0655, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    13. Oleksandr Zhylyevskyy, 2012. "Spousal Conflict and Divorce," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 30(4), pages 915-962.
    14. Genova, Christian & Umberger, Wendy J. & Peralta-Sanchez, Maria-Alexandra & Newman, Suzie & Zeng, Di, 2021. "The Impact of Smallholder Vegetable Production on Rural Vietnamese Children’s Nutrition Outcomes," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315293, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    15. Zheng, Xiaotian & Zhou, Youcheng & Iqbal, Sajid, 2022. "Working capital management of SMEs in COVID-19: role of managerial personality traits and overconfidence behavior," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 439-451.
    16. Klaassen, F.J.G.M. & Magnus, J.R., 2006. "Are Economic Agents Successful Optimizers? An Analysis Through Strategy in Tennis," Other publications TiSEM 73e12d86-8fe4-4a87-9181-7, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    17. Bernardas Vaznonis & Algirdas Justinas Staugaitis & Gintarė Vaznonienė, 2024. "The Interrelationship between Pro-Environmental Attitudes and Subjective Well-Being: The Case of Central and Eastern European Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-24, April.
    18. Maruyama, Shiko, 2014. "Estimation of finite sequential games," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 178(2), pages 716-726.
    19. Falk Bräuning & Siem Jan Koopman, 2016. "The dynamic factor network model with an application to global credit risk," Working Papers 16-13, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    20. Eva M. Murgado-Armenteros & María Gutierrez-Salcedo & Francisco José Torres-Ruiz, 2020. "The Concern about Biodiversity as a Criterion for the Classification of the Sustainable Consumer: A Cross-Cultural Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-14, April.

    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:gam:jagris:v:14:y:2024:i:7:p:1105-:d:1431650. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.