2 4. Which is a more important factor in determining Hong Kong citizens’ willingness to save energy when they are motivated by various policy interventions? Social demographic factors or psycho-cognitive factors? Study Methodology A survey was conducted on residents’ perceptions of policy interventions that encourage air-conditioning energy-saving behaviors. The target population was adult household decision-makers. A sample size of 931 was achieved by applying a random sampling method. To prevent social desirability bias, participants were guaranteed anonymity (Tourangeau, R., & Yan, 2007). The survey questions elicited respondents’ perceptions of various policy interventions (the original questionnaire can be found in the paper by Spandagos et al., 2021). The respondents were asked to answer questions on a tenpoint scale to indicate their willingness to perform energysaving actions if they were induced by specific policy interventions (1 represents the strongest disagreement, 10 represents the strongest agreement). The survey also elicited information about the respondents’ social demographic and psycho-cognitive attributes. Distribution analysis of respondents’ perceptions and regression analysis were conducted to answer the above-mentioned research questions, and policy recommendations were offered based on the findings. Findings and Analysis Social influence policy interventions are effective at influencing energy-saving decisions Figures 1 and 2 show the distribution of respondents' perceptions of social influence policy interventions. Around half of the respondents considered both local community and social media pressure highly influential in their air-conditioning energy decisions. These respondents assigned Likert-type values of 8–10 to the related survey questions. However, peer pressure is more impactful on their energy efficiency decisions than on their energy conservation decisions. Economic instrument policies are effective at motivating energy-conservation decisions Figure 3 presents the distribution of respondents' perceptions of economic instrument policies. More than half of the respondents agreed that economic instruments, i.e., monetary rewards/penalties, could effectively motivate energy-conservation actions, assigning Likert-type values of 8–10 to the corresponding survey questions. Overall, the respondents perceived rewards and penalties as equally impactful. Nevertheless, comparing the statistics presented in Figures 1, 2, and 3, respondents generally chose lower Likert-type values in response to questions related to the impact of economic instruments than in questions related to the impact of peer pressure, indicating that social influence is more effective at reshaping energy-consumption behaviors. Moderate economic rewards/penalties can motivate energy-saving actions Table 1 displays respondents’ perceptions of various reward/penalty measures. The most acceptable penalty was a 2%–4% surcharge on electricity bills, which more than 30% of the respondents perceived as a reasonable penalty that incentivizes energy-saving behaviors. On the other hand, a 4%–8% savings on electricity bills was considered a fair reward. Around 36%–47% of the respondents agreed that such a reward could reasonably stimulate energy-saving actions. Psycho-cognitive attributes help to determine the effectiveness of policy interventions Regression analysis shows that psycho-cognitive factors were more crucial in determining the effectiveness of policy interventions that incentivize energy-saving decisions than social-demographic attributes (readers may refer to the paper by Spandagos et al., 2021 for detailed regression results). Psycho-cognitive attributes, namely environmental awareness, openness to change, and past exposure to policy interventions were statistically significant factors that could enhance the potential for any policy intervention to influence energy-saving decisions. In contrast, income and age affected only the potential of economic instruments to influence such decisions, and had no effects on social pressure interventions. The study found statistically significant relationships between education and the effectiveness of 3 of 6 policy interventions. Gender and location had no statistically significant effects on the influence of any policy instrument. Interestingly, the number of peers encountered did not even affect the potential of peer pressure to influence energy-saving decisions, perhaps because interactions between neighbors are rare in a highly urbanized city like Hong Kong. Recommendations Encouraging energy-saving behaviors through peer comparison As social pressure influences both energy-efficiency decisions and energy-conservation actions, the government could enlarge the scope of peer comparison programs by encouraging the use of energy-efficient appliances, e.g., by purchasing energy-efficient airconditioners. Energy-efficiency decisions can reduce energy use dramatically in the long run (Abrahamse et al., 2005). Unlike energy-efficiency decisions which involve one-time actions, energy-conservation actions require continuous efforts. After citizens make energy-efficiency decisions, the government may utilize peer pressure to motivate Social Influence and Economic Intervention Policies that Reduce Energy Consumption: Evidence from Air-conditioning Use Public Policy BULLETIN
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