Antecedents of Electricity-Saving Behavior in Mountain Road Tunnel-Construction Sites: A Multi-Level Modeling Analysis

• Published in: Sustainability Vol. 16; no. 6; p. 2593
• Main Authors: Yan, Guanfeng, Liu, Binwen, Li, Yanjie, Wang, Mingnian, Yan, Tao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.03.2024
• Subjects: Analysis; Behavior; China; Climate change; Construction costs; Construction workers; Consumption; Electricity; Employees; Energy conservation; Environmental impact; Global temperature changes; Natural resources; Protection and preservation; Road construction industry; Roads & highways; Structural equation modeling; Theory of planned behavior; Transportation authorities; Tunnels; Urban areas; Ventilation; Work environment; China
• ISSN: 2071-1050; 2071-1050
• DOI: 10.3390/su16062593

The electricity-saving behavior of construction workers is helpful in reducing construction costs, protecting the ecological environment, and preventing global climate change. However, there is insufficient research on the electricity-saving behavioral mechanisms of tunnel-construction workers, and their behavior is influenced by their surrounding people including supervisors and co-workers because they are nested in various construction sites and isolated from other acquaintances. This study aims to develop a hierarchical linear model that explores the interrelationships between tunnel-construction workers’ electricity-saving behavior and four influencing factors theoretically and empirically. An organizational-level factor, electricity-saving climate, and three individual-level factors, including attitude, perceived behavioral control, and moral norms, are considered, and 1567 tunnel-construction workers from 41 construction sites mainly located in the southwest of China participated in this study. A six-step procedure for statistical analyses is adopted to test eight hypotheses using questionnaire survey data. The results supported all the hypotheses within the multi-level model and showed that the organizational-level factor played a leading role in predicting workers’ electricity-saving intentions with three individual-level factors positively associated with workers’ electricity-saving intentions. Further, the organizational electricity-saving climate also indirectly affects workers’ electricity-saving intentions through three mediators (individual-level factors), and electricity-saving intention is positively associated with electricity-saving behavior. Consequently, cultivating an electricity-saving climate within an organization is of great benefit to electricity conservation and environmental protection, and several recommendations are provided to improve the practical operability of results. The findings enable a better understanding of electricity-saving behavioral mechanisms and promote a low-carbon lifestyle among tunnel-construction workers.