The effects of sustainability knowledge dimensions on sustainability intention, sustainable attitude and sustainable behavior toward water supply and consumption

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the effect of sustainability knowledge dimensions which are recycling knowledge, reuse knowledge and use efficiently knowledge on sustainability intention, attitude and behavior toward water consumption. This study is important while it is the first empirical study that has examined the links between a set of sustainable water consumption concepts within an “water-poor,” Arab developing country context. A conceptual model of the connections between the above-mentioned factors was developed and the posited hypotheses were tested using a survey data set of 512 questionnaires collected from consumers in Jordan. The findings show that use efficiently knowledge has the strongest effect on sustainable intention, followed by recycling knowledge and reuse knowledge. Moreover, use efficiently knowledge has the strongest effect on a sustainable attitude followed by reuse knowledge and recycling knowledge. Additionally, sustainable intention has a stronger effect on sustainable behavior than sustainable attitude. Such results would provide useful insights for policymakers, nonprofit organizations, and businesses to integrate themes of sustainable behavior into their policies and programs, thereby facilitating better progress toward the sustainability of water resources in developing countries.