A study of Curtailment Behaviour in the Context of University Students in Indonesia: The Role of Values and Norms

Abstract

Consumer nowadays have become more aware of environmental issues which urge them to act more sustainably. One of the ways to behave more sustainably is conserving the energy. Consumers can conserve the energy by engaging in curtailment behaviour. Curtailment behaviour is believed to be more reliable and realistic in combating environmental problems, However, curtailment behaviours are still relatively difficult to be fully adopted by the individuals because they usually require sacrifice from the individuals. Therefore, it is fundamental to explore what factors can encourage consumers to engage in curtailment behaviour. This study attempts to explain curtailment behaviour from socio-psychological factors, represented by values and norms. A research model consisting of altruistic values, egoistic values, biospheric values, personal norms, social norms as predictors was then proposed and tested using multiple regression. The total number of 263 respondents were involved in this study. This study found that altruistic values play the biggest contribution in explaining curtailment behaviour of university students in Indonesia, followed by biospheric values and personal norms. Meanwhile, egoistic values and social norms were proven to be insignificant. The result of this study provides understanding for government as a policy maker, as well as university as the education provider in composing the right approach to encourage the adoption of curtailment behaviour in the context of university students in Indonesia. Additionally, limitation and suggestion for further studies were also presented in later part of this paper.