The effects of attitudes on household energy behavior. A study of climate change concern, responsibility, and awareness in European societies

Sari Verachtert

Social Science Quarterly, 2022, vol. 103, issue 5, 1221-1233

Abstract: Objective Several attempts in environmental research have been made to investigate which factors are crucial for people to act pro‐environmentally. Yet, research results remain rather inconsistent, especially across countries. The present article aims to explore whether climate change attitudes and household energy use are associated with European citizens, independent of the country. Methods This cross‐national study uses items from the recent European Social Survey 2016 “climate change and energy” module measuring people's attitudes to climate change and energy preferences at the European level by using a multilevel analysis. Results I found that at the individual level, both climate change concern, responsibility, and awareness are important to explain variance in energy‐saving behavior, although in different ways. The results suggest that using only variables directly related to attitudes is too limited to explain household energy behavior. The present study indicates that gender, income, and education have a significant impact on behavior. At the country level, GDP and unemployment rate seem to predict less in relation to household energy behavior. Conclusion Climate change attitudes seem to have an impact on people's energy‐saving behavior, even after controlling for socioeconomic characteristics. However, it is important to distinguish between different measures of household energy behavior.

Date: 2022
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