Understanding employees’ energy saving behavior from the perspective of stimulus-organism-responses

Abstract

Saving energy in workplaces provides a valuable opportunity to lessen energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. This article draws on stimulus-organism-response theory (SOR) to explore the impact of circumstance stimulus and internal psychological states on employee’s energy saving intention. Partial Least Square (PLS) was employed to examine the research model with 249 valid responses among Chinese office workers. Findings indicated that descriptive norms, organizational energy saving climate, and media publicity (i.e., stimulus) had a significant direct and positive impact on employee’s perceived energy saving responsibility and social pressure (i.e., organism). Moreover, the employee’s perceived energy-saving responsibility and social pressure had a significant positive impact on energy saving intention (i.e., response). This study drew theoretical implications for future energy saving research as well as managerial implications for organizations and policymakers.