A comprehensive model to explain consumers’ purchasing intention of energy-efficient household appliances: A case study in China

ABSTRACTGiven the significant increase in residential electricity consumption in China, promoting the use of energy-efficient household appliances in residential buildings is imperative. Considering this, we construct a new comprehensive model, including the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and Theory of value belief norms (VBN), to identify consumers’ intentions to purchase energy-efficient household appliances. The model is empirically tested using a structural equation modeling approach based on 891 effective questionnaires from Chinese respondents. The results show that TPB variables are important factors in predicting consumers’ intentions to purchase energy-efficient household appliances. Product cognition is the best predictor of purchasing intention, followed by perceived behavioral control, environmental awareness, and subjective norms. For VBN variables, the egoistic value and altruistic value placed on the awareness of consequence is insignificant; the other VBN variables all affect purchasing intention. Compared with the original TPB model or VBN model, this comprehensive model exhibits superior predictive ability in the purchase intention of energy-efficient household appliances. In this comprehensive model, environmental awareness creates a significant effect between the awareness of consequence and ascription of responsibility and the interactive influence of subjective norms on the personal norm. Finally, several important policy implications are documented.KEYWORDS: Energy-saving behaviorenergy-efficient household appliancesvalue-belief-norm theory AcknowledgementsWe are grateful for the financial support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 72074111)Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 National Energy Administration, http://www.nea.gov.cn/. (Accessed 26 May 2021).2 National Bureau of Statistics, http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/ndsj/. (Accessed 03 October 2021).3 The energy-efficient household appliances mentioned in this study refer to high-efficiency home appliances with an energy efficiency level of 1 or 2.4 This study utilized an independent samples t-test since gender was a bicategorical variable. This study grouped age, income, and education level as multi-category variables for distinct groups to observe differences between groups. For example, the ages were classified into four categories: youth, prime-age, middle age, and old age. Four income categories are formed based on low, middle, upper-middle, and high-income levels. Thus, ANOVA was employed in the analysis.Additional informationFundingWe are grateful for the financial support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 72074111) and Major Program of National Fund of Philosophy and Social Science of China (No. 23ZDA111).