A study about the impact of energy saving climate on college students' energy saving behavior: based on analysis using the hierarchical linear model

College students, as a new force in energy saving and emission reduction, play an important role in environmental protection. However, there is a lack of empirical research on the factors that affect college students' energy-saving behaviors at the individual and organizational levels. In this study, an extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) model is employed to narrow this gap. A total of 661 valid data points collected from 51 Chinese universities were used to test related hypotheses. The findings reveal that attitude, perceived responsibility, perceived behavior control and subjective norms are significantly related to energy-saving intention. Meanwhile, energy-saving intention is the most decisive factor for Chinese college students' energy-saving behavior. More importantly, this paper verified the positive effect of organizational factors (energy-saving climate) on students' energy-saving intentions and behaviors. Finally, implications for improving students' energy-saving intention and theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Automated summary

College students play an important role in energy saving and emission reduction, but there is a lack of empirical research on the factors that affect their energy-saving behaviors. This study used an extended theory of planned behavior model to address this gap and found that attitudes, perceived responsibility, perceived behavior control, and subjective norms are significantly related to energy-saving intention. Energy-saving intention is also found to be the most decisive factor for Chinese college students' energy-saving behavior. Additionally, this study confirmed the positive effect of organizational factors on students' energy-saving intentions and behaviors.