Investigating willingness to save energy and communication about energy use in the American workplace with the attitude-behavior-context model

Drawing on the attitude-behavior-context model, this study examined how attitudinal factors (energy saving belief and belief about the link between comfort and productivity) and contextual factors (group norms and organizational support) were associated with 1) employees’ willingness to save energy in the workplace at some cost of comfort and 2) the perceived ease of communicating to co-workers about saving energy. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, we found that employees with a strong energy saving belief were willing to sacrifice some comfort to save energy. Likewise, employees who did not believe that comfort and productivity were negatively related expressed greater willingness to save energy, especially when they perceived organizational support. Meanwhile, positive group norms were related to perceived ease of communicating for employees with a strong energy saving belief. This study demonstrates the need to consider both attitudinal and contextual factors, including their interactions, when examining energy-saving behaviors and their communicational antecedents in the workplace.