Busic-Sontic, A (2019) Energy efficiency investments in residential buildings: does personality matter? PhD thesis, University of Cambridge, UK.
Abstract
In recent years, energy efficiency in the built environment has been attracting considerable interest to mitigate energy consumption. A number of scientific studies indicate that rising air pollution, decreasing biodiversity, ocean acidification and other adverse effects on humans and the environment in recent decades are due to greenhouse gas emissions, and a substantial share of the emissions can be attributed to energy usage in residential buildings. Investments in energy-efficient technologies have been made to alleviate such human induced causes contributing to the emissions, but they are still far from widespread, calling for a thorough understanding of individuals’ decision-making processes to promote further adoption of energy efficiency investments. Although personality has been widely recognised as an explanatory factor of behaviour, a rigorous discussion of it in the context of energy efficiency investments is missing. As such, to understand the role of personality traits in making high-cost energy efficiency investments in residential buildings, this research applies a multidisciplinary approach to derive theoretical models that are evaluated in subsequent empirical investigations using quantitative methods and data from the UK and Germany. The findings suggest three ways through which personality can influence energy efficiency investments. The first is an indirect impact of personality traits through risk preferences, in which the significance of the personality effects depends on the financial subsidy context. The second is an indirect effect of personality traits through environmental concern. The third way suggests an impact of personality traits through their importance for individuals’ capability and willingness to consider peer behaviour.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Fuerst, F |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | built environment; energy consumption; investment; pollution; residential; efficiency; energy efficiency; Germany; UK |
| Index terms: | energy consumption, investigation, built environment, energy efficiency, residential building, subsidy, efficiency, biodiversity, pollution, environmental concern, decision-making process, personality, greenhouse gas emission, quantitative method, indirect effect, Germany, preference, air pollution |
| Subjects: | sustainability and energy, data analysis and analytics, energy systems, data collection methods, decision analysis, infrastructure and transport systems, environmental health, performance management, biodiversity, economic analysis, analytical methods, construction type, environmental issues, climate science, behavioral psychology, decision-making and reasoning, Geography |
| Topics: | Sustainability, Risk Management, Geographical Context, Quality Management, Construction Technology, Research Practice, Business Strategy, Urban Studies |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here