IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i14p5573-d382868.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Factors Driving Consumer Involvement in Energy Consumption and Energy-Efficient Purchasing Behavior: Evidence from Korean Residential Buildings

Author

Listed:
  • Soyoung Yoo

    (College of Business, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 85 Hoegiro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 02455, Korea)

  • Jiyong Eom

    (College of Business, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 85 Hoegiro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 02455, Korea)

  • Ingoo Han

    (College of Business, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 85 Hoegiro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 02455, Korea)

Abstract

The recent rapid transition in energy markets and technological advances in demand-side interventions has renewed attention on consumer behavior. A rich literature on potential factors affecting residential energy use or green technology adoption has highlighted the need to better understand the fundamental causes of consumer heterogeneity in buildings’ energy-related behavior. Unresolved questions such as which consumers are most likely to opt into demand-side management programs and what factors might explain the wide variation in behavioral responses to such programs make it difficult for policy-makers to develop cost-effective energy efficiency or demand response programs for residential buildings. This study extends the literature on involvement theory and energy-related behavior by proposing a holistic construct of household energy involvement (HEI) to represent consumers’ personal level of interest in energy services. Based on a survey of 5487 Korean households, it finds that HEI has a stronger association with consumer values, such as preferences for indoor thermal comfort and automation, than with socioeconomic or housing characteristics and demonstrates HEI’s potential as a reliable, integrated predictor of both energy consumption and energy-efficient purchases. The study illuminates the multifaceted influences that shape energy-related behavior in residential buildings and offers new tools to help utility regulators identify and profile viable market segments, improve the cost-effectiveness of their programs, and eventually promote urban sustainability.

Suggested Citation

  • Soyoung Yoo & Jiyong Eom & Ingoo Han, 2020. "Factors Driving Consumer Involvement in Energy Consumption and Energy-Efficient Purchasing Behavior: Evidence from Korean Residential Buildings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-23, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:14:p:5573-:d:382868
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/14/5573/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/14/5573/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fischbacher, Urs & Schudy, Simeon & Teyssier, Sabrina, 2021. "Heterogeneous preferences and investments in energy saving measures," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    2. Keirstead, James, 2007. "Behavioural responses to photovoltaic systems in the UK domestic sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 4128-4141, August.
    3. Oriana Bandiera & Imran Rasul, 2006. "Social Networks and Technology Adoption in Northern Mozambique," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(514), pages 869-902, October.
    4. Eunjung Lee & Jinho Kim & Dongsik Jang, 2020. "Load Profile Segmentation for Effective Residential Demand Response Program: Method and Evidence from Korean Pilot Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-18, March.
    5. Kwan, Calvin Lee, 2012. "Influence of local environmental, social, economic and political variables on the spatial distribution of residential solar PV arrays across the United States," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 332-344.
    6. Rajabi, Amin & Eskandari, Mohsen & Ghadi, Mojtaba Jabbari & Li, Li & Zhang, Jiangfeng & Siano, Pierluigi, 2020. "A comparative study of clustering techniques for electrical load pattern segmentation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    7. Faruqui, Ahmad & Sergici, Sanem & Sharif, Ahmed, 2010. "The impact of informational feedback on energy consumption—A survey of the experimental evidence," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 1598-1608.
    8. Katrina Jessoe & David Rapson, 2014. "Knowledge Is (Less) Power: Experimental Evidence from Residential Energy Use," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(4), pages 1417-1438, April.
    9. Kenneth Gillingham, Matthew Harding, and David Rapson, 2012. "Split Incentives in Residential Energy Consumption," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    10. Thomas P. Lyon & Haitao Yin, 2010. "Why Do States Adopt Renewable Portfolio Standards?: An Empirical Investigation," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 3), pages 133-158.
    11. Hoyer, Wayne D, 1984. "An Examination of Consumer Decision Making for a Common Repeat Purchase Product," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 11(3), pages 822-829, December.
    12. Bryan Bollinger & Kenneth Gillingham, 2012. "Peer Effects in the Diffusion of Solar Photovoltaic Panels," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(6), pages 900-912, November.
    13. Perri, Cecilia & Giglio, Carlo & Corvello, Vincenzo, 2020. "Smart users for smart technologies: Investigating the intention to adopt smart energy consumption behaviors," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    14. Michael Nye & Lorraine Whitmarsh & Timothy Foxon, 2010. "Sociopsychological Perspectives on the Active Roles of Domestic Actors in Transition to a Lower Carbon Electricity Economy," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(3), pages 697-714, March.
    15. Van Raaij, W. Fred & Verhallen, Theo M. M., 1983. "A behavioral model of residential energy use," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 39-63.
    16. Hunt Allcott & Todd Rogers, 2014. "The Short-Run and Long-Run Effects of Behavioral Interventions: Experimental Evidence from Energy Conservation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(10), pages 3003-3037, October.
    17. Jensen, Jesper Ole, 2008. "Measuring consumption in households: Interpretations and strategies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1-2), pages 353-361, December.
    18. Sebastien Houde, Annika Todd, Anant Sudarshan, June A. Flora , and K. Carrie Armel, 2013. "Real-time Feedback and Electricity Consumption: A Field Experiment Assessing the Potential for Savings and Persistence," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1).
    19. Zaichkowsky, Judith Lynne, 1985. "Measuring the Involvement Construct," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 12(3), pages 341-352, December.
    20. Jean-Noël Kapferer & Gilles Laurent, 1985. "Measuring consumer involvement profiles," Post-Print hal-00786781, HAL.
    21. Vasseur, Véronique & Kemp, René, 2015. "The adoption of PV in the Netherlands: A statistical analysis of adoption factors," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 483-494.
    22. Tsan-Ming Choi & T. C. E. Cheng & Xiande Zhao & Ting-Yan Chan & Christina W. Y. Wong & Kee-Hung Lai & Venus Y. H. Lun & Chi To Ng & Eric W. T. Ngai, 2016. "Green Service: Construct Development and Measurement Validation," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 25(3), pages 432-457, March.
    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. Troy Malatesta & Gregory M. Morrison & Jessica K. Breadsell & Christine Eon, 2023. "A Systematic Literature Review of the Interplay between Renewable Energy Systems and Occupant Practices," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-27, June.
    2. Outcault, Sarah & Sanguinetti, Angela & Nelson, Leslie, 2022. "Technology characteristics that influence adoption of residential distributed energy resources: Adapting Rogers’ framework," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    3. Malakhatka, Elena & Lundqvist, Per & Shafqat, Omar & De Bellefon, Angélique, 2022. "Identification of everyday food-related activities with potential for direct and indirect energy savings: KTH Live–in–Lab explorative case study," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    4. da Fonseca, André L.A. & Chvatal, Karin M.S. & Fernandes, Ricardo A.S., 2021. "Thermal comfort maintenance in demand response programs: A critical review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    5. Luigi Dolores & Maria Macchiaroli & Gianluigi De Mare, 2022. "Financial Impacts of the Energy Transition in Housing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-17, April.
    6. Janez Dolšak & Nevenka Hrovatin & Jelena Zorić, 2020. "Analysing Consumer Preferences, Characteristics, and Behaviour to Identify Energy-Efficient Consumers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-19, November.

    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. Ramos, A. & Gago, A. & Labandeira, X. & Linares, P., 2015. "The role of information for energy efficiency in the residential sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(S1), pages 17-29.
    2. Lynham, John & Nitta, Kohei & Saijo, Tatsuyoshi & Tarui, Nori, 2016. "Why does real-time information reduce energy consumption?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 173-181.
    3. Giraudet, Louis-Gaëtan, 2020. "Energy efficiency as a credence good: A review of informational barriers to energy savings in the building sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    4. Iztok Podbregar & Sanja Filipović & Mirjana Radovanović & Olga Mirković Isaeva & Polona Šprajc, 2021. "Electricity Prices and Consumer Behavior, Case Study Serbia—Randomized Control Trials Method," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-12, January.
    5. Ross C. Beppler & Daniel C. Matisoff & Matthew E. Oliver, 2023. "Electricity consumption changes following solar adoption: Testing for a solar rebound," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 61(1), pages 58-81, January.
    6. Louis-Gaëtan Giraudet, 2018. "Energy efficiency as a credence good: A review of informational barriers to building energy savings," Working Papers 2018.07, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    7. Aydin, Erdal & Brounen, Dirk & Kok, Nils, 2018. "Information provision and energy consumption: Evidence from a field experiment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 403-410.
    8. Todd D. Gerarden & Richard G. Newell & Robert N. Stavins, 2017. "Assessing the Energy-Efficiency Gap," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1486-1525, December.
    9. Xu, Xiaojing & Chen, Chien-fei, 2019. "Energy efficiency and energy justice for U.S. low-income households: An analysis of multifaceted challenges and potential," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 763-774.
    10. Weber, Sylvain & Puddu, Stefano & Pacheco, Diana, 2017. "Move it! How an electric contest motivates households to shift their load profile," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 255-270.
    11. Chen, Victor L. & Delmas, Magali A. & Locke, Stephen L. & Singh, Amarjeet, 2017. "Information strategies for energy conservation: A field experiment in India," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 215-227.
    12. Werthschulte, Madeline & Löschel, Andreas, 2021. "On the role of present bias and biased price beliefs in household energy consumption," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    13. Collier, Samuel H.C. & House, Jo I. & Connor, Peter M. & Harris, Richard, 2023. "Distributed local energy: Assessing the determinants of domestic-scale solar photovoltaic uptake at the local level across England and Wales," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    14. Asmare, Fissha & Jaraitė, Jūratė & Kažukauskas, Andrius, 2021. "The effect of descriptive information provision on electricity consumption: Experimental evidence from Lithuania," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    15. Stefano Carattini & Simon Levin & Alessandro Tavoni, 2019. "Cooperation in the Climate Commons," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 13(2), pages 227-247.
    16. Gosnell, Greer & McCoy, Daire, 2023. "Market failures and willingness to accept smart meters: Experimental evidence from the UK," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    17. Karjalainen, Sami & Ahvenniemi, Hannele, 2019. "Pleasure is the profit - The adoption of solar PV systems by households in Finland," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 44-52.
    18. Lin, Boqiang & Zhu, Penghu, 2021. "Has increasing block pricing policy been perceived in China? Evidence from residential electricity use," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    19. Jing Liang & Yueming Qiu & Bo Xing, 2021. "Social Versus Private Benefits of Energy Efficiency Under Time-of-Use and Increasing Block Pricing," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 78(1), pages 43-75, January.
    20. Palm, A., 2020. "Early adopters and their motives: Differences between earlier and later adopters of residential solar photovoltaics," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 133(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:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:14:p:5573-:d:382868. 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.