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Article

Rural Residents’ Willingness to Adopt Energy-Saving Technology for Buildings and Their Behavioral Response Path

by
Shilong Li
1,2,* and
Wenwen Hu
1
1
School of Management Science and Real Estate, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China
2
Center for Construction Economics and Management, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Buildings 2024, 14(4), 892; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14040892
Submission received: 18 January 2024 / Revised: 22 March 2024 / Accepted: 23 March 2024 / Published: 26 March 2024
(This article belongs to the Section Building Energy, Physics, Environment, and Systems)
Browse Figure
Versions Notes

Abstract

:
There is an urgent need to promote the technical means of energy conservation in rural buildings. However, it is difficult to inspire enthusiasm among rural residents to implement the mandatory building energy conservation policy, resulting in invisible and avoidable waste. Based on the characteristics of energy-saving technology for buildings and the theory of planned behavior, structural equation modeling was adopted to explore the transformation process of the “cognition–willingness–behavior” of rural residents. The model results validate the hypothesis that behavioral attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control influence the adoption of energy-efficient building technologies by rural residents. The results show that in terms of the factors influencing rural residents’ willingness to adopt building energy-saving technology, behavioral attitudes have the greatest impact, followed by subjective norms and perceived behavior control, and that rural residents’ subjective norms can indirectly promote their willingness to adopt building energy-saving technology, which is mediated through their behavioral attitudes. The paper concludes with suggestions for countermeasures to enhance buildings’ energy efficiency and energy management in rural areas.

1. Introduction

Since the oil crisis in the 1970s, energy, the climate, the environment, and other related issues around the world have become increasingly prominent. Today, China’s rapid urbanization is causing increasing energy pressures, and the building industry is accounting for an increasing proportion of energy consumption [1]. For instance, the energy use of buildings increased from 115 EJ in 2010 to nearly 135 EJ in 2021. Globally, building operations account for 30% of energy consumption, and China is catching up to that figure, with building operations now accounting for 21% of the country’s total energy consumption [2]. Furthermore, the construction industry has become one of the three major energy consumption sectors. Although construction is one of the key drivers of China’s economic development, and it plays a key role in the country’s social development, too, the industry has also become a major factor affecting the yearly growth of China’s carbon emissions. In the context of China’s “dual carbon” goal, the construction sector urgently needs to clarify a path for achieving a carbon peak and carbon neutrality [3]. Likewise, the reduction of energy consumption in buildings is crucial for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and advancing sustainable building practices [4]. As the energy consumption in buildings involves a variety of energy forms such as electricity, heat, coal and natural gas, and there are huge differences in the supply structures of buildings’ electricity and heat in different countries, buildings’ consumption has become a key problem contributing to energy shortages. The shortage of oil resources has led Western developed countries to realize the importance of energy consumption and energy security, as well as to view buildings’ energy conservation from the strategic perspective of national economic security.
Rural residential buildings refer to those in which people live, not involving agricultural production. Buildings in urban areas are usually the results of intensive construction and feature better structural designs and the application of energy-saving technology. In rural areas of China, meanwhile, due to the traditional construction modes in use, some residential buildings are inefficiently designed, which not only leads to a serious waste of heating energy but also to potential safety hazards created by residential heating systems. In particular, the performance of buildings in rural areas in the north is poor, as manifested in poor thermal insulation performance and air tightness of the envelope structure, dated building heating modes, coal-based fuel and low energy utilization rates. As a result, the energy consumption of rural residential buildings in China is more than five times that of developed countries with the same climatic conditions [5]. Furthermore, in terms of energy consumption per unit of floor area, the energy consumption value of rural residential buildings is 38.8 kWh/m2, which is higher than that of urban residential buildings (29.0 kWh/m2). Meanwhile, according to the seventh national census data, rural residential buildings in China at the end of 2020 covered 22.27 billion square meters, higher than the 17.71 billion square meters of urban residential buildings. Accordingly, rural residential buildings in China account for 37% of the total building energy consumption in the country, and that proportion increases each year [6]. As this demonstrates, energy consumption in rural areas has the potential to affect China’s economic growth and environmental protection [7].
The construction industry has been exploring effective energy-saving and carbon-reducing measures to help reduce building costs and improve efficiency through technological innovation and program optimization. In developed countries, the energy used in rural areas is slightly lower than that in urban areas and it is generally commodity energy (whether considering per capita or area average). Meanwhile, in China, effective energy-saving measures are rarely taken when constructing rural residential housing. Instead, these buildings usually have a thin envelope structure and thick outer walls, uninsulated roofs, doors and windows mostly made of glass and large window areas on the walls. Furthermore, bungalows are popular, though their energy consumption is up to 30% higher than that of urban multi-story buildings under the same thermal insulation conditions, leading to a lack of guaranteed thermal insulation performance of rural residential buildings [8], as well as a serious energy consumption problem.
Therefore, there is an urgent need to promote the technical means of energy conservation in rural residential buildings. However, it is difficult to inspire enthusiasm among rural residents to implement the mandatory building energy-saving policies, which leads to invisible and avoidable waste [9]. Whether building users’ attention can be drawn to energy-saving technology for buildings and whether they can be guided to value the promotion of this technology, as well as understand the benefits it can bring, will significantly impact the final energy savings for buildings. In particular, focusing on the energy-saving renovation of existing buildings rather than the energy-saving levels of newly built buildings offers the most efficient approach to controlling the total energy consumption of rural residential buildings and optimizing the energy structure, and so this should be the priority [10]. Today, in China’s rural areas, the focus of building energy conservation should be on developing heating technology according to the local conditions in order to reduce rural heating energy consumption, as well as promoting and encouraging the widespread use of biomass energy in rural areas through technological innovation, supplemented by the use of renewable energy. In this sense, the use of building energy-saving technology is conducive to saving resources and reducing environmental pollution. For example, BIPVT technology offers an efficient form of solar energy utilization, which can achieve a self-supply of energy and has good development prospects [11]. Alternatively, if these and other options are not explored and implemented, then the efforts to sustain China’s energy supply will face even greater pressure under the current energy shortage situation.
In recent years, research on residents’ willingness to renovate buildings for energy saving has mainly focused on the factors influencing the energy-saving awareness level and technical cognition [12], the key factors influencing cooperation with buildings’ energy-saving renovation [13], the key factors and mechanisms affecting building owners’ endogenous motivations [14] and the mechanisms of energy-saving investment behavior among rural residents [15]. In terms of research methods, data are mainly obtained through field investigations, and the relationships between variables are revealed by using the interpretative structural model (ISM), structural equation model and evolutionary game. Research is rarely carried out from the perspective of rural residents’ behavioral perceptions. Against that background, the purpose of this paper is to explore the influence path of rural residents’ willingness to adopt building energy-saving technology. The aim of doing so is to provide support for the formulation and development of effective energy-saving technology, its application and energy management policies. According to the characteristics of energy-saving technology for buildings, this study is based on the theory of planned behavior, and structural equation modeling is used to explore and analyze the transformation process of the “cognition–intention–behavior” of rural residents. Data were obtained through questionnaires, and the structure of the paper is as follows: chapter two presents the research hypotheses based on the literature review, chapter three defines the data and variables, chapter four provides the model setting and results’ analysis and chapter five gives the conclusion and recommendations.

2. Research Hypotheses

In response to the energy crisis and environmental pollution, a series of energy-saving measures have been adopted in various regions. However, both the energy efficiency and the energy utilization rate of existing residential buildings in rural areas in China are low, and in winter, energy waste because of heating is enormous. Therefore, the energy-saving renovation of existing residential buildings in rural areas needs to be considered in multiple dimensions [16]. Smart buildings can allow residents to better monitor and control energy within buildings, so as to adopt energy management strategies to achieve significant energy savings [17], but there are certain limitations to their implementation in rural areas. Most farmers, especially traditional farmers, lack the technical skills to operate advanced urban smart buildings, which is also costly, so they refuse these new technologies. In addition, the application of building energy-saving technologies to a certain extent requires adaptability. Thus, while retrofitting residential buildings is a sustainable way to improve energy efficiency, the implementation of such green transformation faces challenges due to the low willingness of residents to participate [18].
The theory of planned behavior (TPB) explains the process of individual decision-making behavior from the perspective of information processing and the expected value theory, which is widely used to study people’s complex behavioral intentions [19]. Scholars have introduced the theory of planned behavior into the study of rural residents’ social behavioral intentions, such as rural environmental governance [20,21], rural settlement organization [22], application of fertilization technology [23], entrepreneurial willingness [24] and digital construction [25]. It has also been applied to the study of rural residents’ willingness to adopt building energy-saving technology.
According to the theory of planned behavior, the individual behavioral response is directly affected by a person’s behavioral intention, which is determined by three aspects of individual cognitive variables, namely, behavioral attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavior control. This theory has been widely used to predict and explain the correlations among individual cognition, willingness, motivation and behavioral decision-making, with remarkable results [26].
① Behavioral attitude (BA) refers to an individual’s aversion to or fondness for performing an activity, which can be understood as based on the expectations of rural residents with regard to building energy-saving technology. For example, in BIPVT (building integrated photovoltaic photothermal) buildings, the combination of photovoltaic solar thermal technology and heat pump technology can have complementary advantages arising from the efficient use of multiple renewable energy sources [27], as well as reduce the reliance on coal, straw and other nonrenewable energy sources, which is environmentally friendly. Therefore, it helps to improve the environmental quality of residents’ homes; however, at the same time, it increases the initial investment. Rural residents will have both economic and ecological considerations to balance when considering whether to adopt building technologies related to energy efficiency [28]. Accordingly, the following hypothesis was developed:
Hypothesis (1). 
Behavioral attitudes (ecological and economic tendencies) promote rural residents’ behavioral intentions to adopt energy-saving technology for buildings.
② Subjective norms (SN) include the expectations of the social group to which the individual belongs, the attitudes of others toward the behavior and the degree to which an individual is concerned about the attitudes of others. These can be divided into personal, descriptive and injunctive norms, where personal norms are equivalent to self-identification or moral norms, though not universally recognized [29]. In this paper, subjective norms refer to the social pressure felt by rural residents when deciding whether to adopt building energy-saving technology, reflecting how the external environment influences individual decision-making behaviors. Subjective norms can be divided into directive and exemplary norms, where directive norms come from the nation’s promotion and publicity of building energy conservation and the technical support of construction enterprises for energy-saving technology, while exemplary norms showcase the driving effect of behavioral transmission between villagers on the willingness to adopt energy-saving technology. A good exemplary effect will have a positive impact on the behaviors and attitudes of rural residents. Based on the above analysis, the following hypotheses were formulated:
Hypothesis (2). 
Subjective norms (directive and exemplary) promote rural residents’ behavioral attitudes toward adopting energy-saving technology for buildings.
Hypothesis (3). 
Subjective norms (directive and exemplary) promote rural residents’ behavioral intentions to adopt energy-saving technology for buildings.
③ Perceived behavior control (PBC) refers to the degree of difficulty an individual perceives to be associated with displaying a particular behavior, which reflects the individual’s self-efficacy and the influence of the external environment on the execution of a certain behavior. Self-efficacy can be regarded as rural residents’ control over the application of building energy-saving technology, while the external environment accounts for the guidance and construction assistance that rural residents can obtain through various means. Perceived behavior control can directly affect rural residents’ adoption of building energy-saving technology, and it can also affect their behavior through a promoting effect on their behavioral intentions. Based on this, the perceived behavior control of rural residents is measured from the two aspects of self-efficacy and the external environment, and the following hypotheses were generated:
Hypothesis (4). 
Perceived behavior control (self-efficacy and external environment) promotes rural residents’ behavioral intentions to adopt energy-saving technology for buildings.
Hypothesis (5). 
Perceived behavior control (self-efficacy and external environment) promotes rural residents’ adoption of energy-saving technology for buildings.
According to the theory of planned behavior, all the factors influencing behavior can indirectly act on the behavior itself by influencing the behavioral intention, so the following hypothesis was compiled:
Hypothesis (6). 
Rural residents’ behavioral intentions to adopt energy-saving technology for buildings significantly affect its final adoption.
On the grounds of the above research assumptions, the research framework for this paper was constructed as shown in Figure 1.

3. Data Sources and Descriptions of Variables

3.1. Data Sources

In order to study the responses of rural residents to the adoption of building energy-saving technology, with the theory of planned behavior as the theoretical foundation, a questionnaire was designed for use in surveys conducted in rural areas of certain provinces and cities. The following are examined through the questionnaire, namely, individual characteristics of rural residents (including age, which is only used to screen for valid questionnaire respondents), willingness to adopt building energy-saving technology and adoption behavior, as well as items measuring individual behavioral attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavior control (shown in Table 1). Young and middle-aged people (aged 18–60) from rural areas, who are mainly migrant workers, are the main sources of income and have the most power in household decision making, i.e., more than those in the older age group. Accordingly, they are the main decision makers in the implementation of housing construction or renovation. To target these individuals, the questionnaire survey was conducted either online or offline in some cities. The Questionnaire Star, WeChat and QQ apps were utilized to collect the data. Excluding questionnaires with age ineligibility, a total of 468 valid samples were obtained. The privacy of the research subjects was protected and we obtained their informed consent. Data were obtained for this academic research only.

3.2. Variables’ Selection and Description

Based on the theory of planned behavior, in this study, we set five latent variables: behavioral attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavior control, behavior intention to adopt building energy-saving technology and adoption behavior. The observed variables of each latent variable were measured on a 5-point Likert scale, with scores from 1 to 5 indicating “completely disagree” to “completely agree”. The adoption behavior of building energy-saving technology was measured in three dimensions: whether to adopt, the proportion of adoption and the adoption period, in which the proportion of adoption is the ratio of the renovation area to the actual living area, and the adoption period refers to the number of years over which rural residents have carried out building energy-saving transformation. The survey results revealed that only 38% of the rural residents had adopted building energy-saving renovation, which was low. Meanwhile, according to the evaluation criteria for adoption intention and promotion intention, 3 was an intermediate value, and the mean values for both exceeded 3.5, meaning these intentions were at a moderately high level. Between the three latent variables of behavioral attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavior control, the highest mean value was for behavioral attitudes, indicating that rural residents are willing to accept building energy-saving technology and hold good expectations. In terms of behavioral attitudes, the ecological tendency was slightly higher than the economic tendency, which to a certain extent indicates that rural residents are paying more attention to the ecological environment and that the idea of energy conservation and emission reduction has been popularized. Meanwhile, in regard to subjective norms, the directive norm was significantly higher than the exemplary norm, which shows that building energy-saving renovation is still in its infancy and there is no consensus on energy saving within society. Finally, the means of items measuring perceived behavior control were all lower than 3, and the means of the service environment were the lowest, indicating that there is still considerable work to be carried out in the energy-saving renovation of buildings.
According to the results of the questionnaire, rural residents recognize the publicity and promotion of the application of building energy-saving technologies, but they do not recognize the simplicity and ease of operation of these technologies, with an average value of only 2.35. This indicates that building energy-saving technologies still need to be popularized by using different forms of promotion or by developing simpler technological means. A further finding was that rural residents highly recognized that the use of building energy-saving technologies can reduce energy consumption and save money, and we found that they are more willing to try to use building energy-saving technologies in retrofitting than in new builds. The mean values of the variables are shown in Table 1.

3.3. Reliability and Validity Test

Cronbach’s alpha coefficient method was used to test the reliability of the survey data, and the KMO (Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin) and Bartlett spherical test value (Bartlett) were selected as the validity indicators of the scale. SPSS 26.0 was used to process the data. The results showed that the KMO value was 0.825 > 0.7 and Cronbach’s alpha was 0.754 > 0.7, indicating that the data had good validity and reliability [30]. The Bartlett sphericity test result showed that p < 0.05, indicating that the internal consistency of the scale was good and that it was suitable for factor analysis. Furthermore, the construct reliability (CR) value of each index was higher than 0.70, indicating that the variables had good construct reliability.

4. Empirical Analysis

4.1. Model Results

In this research, AMOS 23.0 was used for fitting, and all the fitting indexes met the requirements, indicating the model fitting effect was good, among which root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.054 < 0.08. The standardized regression coefficient results after fitting the model are shown in Table 2, and the path coefficients of each latent variable passed the significance test, which meant that all the hypotheses were validated.

4.2. Path Analysis

(1) Behavioral attitude. The behavioral attitude of rural residents plays a significant role in promoting the behavioral intent to use building energy-saving technology, that is, the more positive the attitude of rural residents towards building energy-saving technology, the stronger their willingness to adopt this technology transformation, and so hypothesis 1 is verified. Further analysis showed that rural residents are more willing to adopt building energy-saving technology when they anticipate that they can effectively obtain economic and ecological benefits from it. This is in line with the essential requirements of the energy-saving transformation in rural areas, which are to reduce rural residents’ cost of living and to maintain the rural ecological environment [31]. Hypothesis 2 is verified. However, when comparing behavioral attitudes in terms of the ecological tendency and economic tendency, we found that the path coefficients of both were basically the same, indicating that there is no significant difference in the adoption of building energy-saving technology by rural residents when considering these two aspects. To a certain extent, this shows that although building energy-saving technology is being promoted from the perspective of environmental governance, rural residents’ ecological tendency is no higher than their economic tendency, suggesting that their economic level still needs to be vigorously improved, with economic development as the foundation of environmental governance [32].
(2) Subjective norms. We found that the subjective norms of rural residents can significantly promote their behavioral intention to adopt building energy-saving technology, and so hypothesis 3 is verified. The reason for this finding is that in the process of promoting and implementing building energy-saving technology, the exemplary norm provides a good reference for rural residents, which enables them to actually observe real-life cases and economic effects of building energy-saving technology, thus promoting their willingness to adopt this technology. In addition, the exchange of application possibilities for this technology also promotes rural residents’ adoption willingness. Directive norms, on the other hand, are a measure that effectively strengthens the subjective norms of rural residents, mainly since an increase in publicity and subsidies can both enhance rural residents’ awareness of building energy-saving technology and provide them with economic support. In the impact path, the coefficients of these two variables reached 0.954 and 0.936, respectively, which suggests that they have great impacts on energy conservation and emission reduction in rural areas. At the same time, the subjective norms of rural residents also play a significant role in promoting their behavioral attitudes, i.e., by promoting residents’ intentions to adopt building energy-saving technology through their behavioral attitude. Furthermore, the verification of hypothesis 2 shows that both exemplary and directive norms greatly impact the behavioral intentions of rural residents, and the exemplary role of neighbors in rural areas has almost the same effect as economic policy incentives.
(3) Perceived behavior control. Rural residents’ perceived behavior control was found to significantly positively affect their intentions to adopt building energy-saving technology, which verifies hypothesis 4. In other words, when rural residents have adequate knowledge of building energy-saving technology, believe that it is within their control capability and feel that the external environment is sufficiently secured, they are more likely to have a high level of adoption willingness, which comes from the combined effect of psychology, ability and technical support. In perceived behavior control, the influencing factor with the highest impact on residents’ intentions to adopt building energy-saving technology is whether the installation of this technology is guided throughout the whole process, which reflects the positive role of technology demonstration in the promotion of rural energy conservation and emission reduction. Meanwhile, the results also showed that rural residents’ perceived behavior control has a significant role in promoting their final adoption of building energy-saving technology. This direct effect was found between the two, without a need for the mediation of behavioral intentions, reflecting the important role of perceived behavior control in rural residents’ decision making, which verifies hypothesis 5. Therefore, to promote building energy-saving technology in rural areas, it is necessary to consider not only the configuration of hardware equipment but also technical services. Enhancing rural residents’ mastery of new technology will continuously promote their adoption and implementation of building energy-saving technology.
(4) Behavioral intention. We found that the higher the adoption intention, the greater the possibility of implementing building energy-saving behavior, which verifies hypothesis 6. The adoption intention is a psychological tendency, and according to related theories in psychology, a greater intention implies a stronger positive incentive. Therefore, individuals with a greater intention have a better sense of benefit and satisfaction, and it is easier for them to implement related behaviors. This also suggests that to implement building energy-saving technology in rural areas, rural residents must be filled with positive psychological satisfaction, including economic, ecological and service satisfaction.

5. Conclusions

Based on the survey data of rural residents, this paper has analyzed the influence mechanism of rural residents’ willingness to adopt building energy-saving technology and their behavior towards this technology based on the theory of planned behavior, and it has revealed the influences of the economic tendency, ecological tendency, exemplary norms, directive norms, self-efficacy and service environment. Among the factors influencing rural residents’ willingness to adopt building energy-saving technology, we have found that the behavioral attitude has the greatest impact, followed by subjective norms and perceived behavior control. Meanwhile, subjective norms promote rural residents’ willingness to adopt building energy-saving technology indirectly through their behavioral attitude.
A key finding has been the influences of technology demonstration and technical services, which may enhance rural residents’ awareness of energy conservation and their adoption of building energy-saving technology. Energy conservation in rural buildings is not only of great significance for improving the living standards and quality of life of rural residents but also for reducing energy consumption and promoting the construction of a new countryside. In concluding this study, we put forward the following recommendations: (1) Strengthen the publicity around technology. Building energy-saving technology may reduce rural residents’ energy costs and improve the ecological environment in rural areas. However, it is still necessary to strengthen the publicity of this technology in order to enhance rural residents’ awareness of it as well as their knowledge about environmental protection, so as to effectively promote the adoption and implementation of building energy-saving technology in rural areas. The government should establish a corresponding rural publicity system, including online self-media and household publicity. (2) Strengthen the construction of demonstration sites. The government should strengthen the actual experience of rural residents by building energy-saving building experience projects in rural areas, displaying the technology in a physical form and promoting communications and exchanges among rural residents. (3) Strengthen technical services. The promotion and demonstration of this technology can be better achieved by strengthening the related technical services in rural areas. To do so, the government should establish technical service stations or a service network system that benefits rural residents in terms of hardware configuration, maintenance and service guidance, which will help promote the implementation of building energy-saving technology. In the future, the optimal stochastic and distributed energy management approach should be adopted in order to establish an active distribution network [33], for effective and dynamic building energy management and conservation.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, methodology, software, validation, formal analysis, investigation, resources, data curation, writing—original draft preparation, writing—review and editing, supervision, project administration, funding acquisition: S.L.; methodology, software, validation, formal analysis, data curation, writing—review and editing: W.H. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research was funded by Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China (Project No. 2023CDJSKPT08).

Data Availability Statement

The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to data management.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.

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Buildings 14 00892 g001
Figure 1. Logical framework of rural residents’ behavior in regard to the adoption of energy-saving technology for buildings.
Figure 1. Logical framework of rural residents’ behavior in regard to the adoption of energy-saving technology for buildings.
Buildings 14 00892 g001
Table 1. Variables’ selection and descriptive statistics.
Table 1. Variables’ selection and descriptive statistics.
Latent VariableIndexObserved VariableVariable CodeMeanStandard
Deviation
Building Technology
Adoption Behavior
(BTAB)		Whether to adopt or notWhether building energy-saving technology has been adoptedBTAB10.380.486
Adopt proportionsThe ratio of the renovated area to the actual living areaBTAB21.622.110
Adoption periodThe number of years that a building is used after it has been retrofitted with energy-efficient technologiesBTAB31.041.434
Behavioral Intention
(BI)		Willingness to adoptWillingness to experiment with building energy-saving technology in retrofitsBI13.911.041
Willingness to promoteWillingness to recommend the use of building energy-saving technology to othersBI23.770.961
Willingness to continue to provide personal household usage data for the application of building energy-saving technologyBI33.570.968
Behavioral Attitude
(BA)		Economic tendencyThe use of building energy-saving technology can help reduce energy consumption and save moneyBA13.770.933
The use of building energy-saving technology can be subsidized more oftenBA23.480.930
Ecological tendencyThe use of building energy-saving technology can improve the air quality in homesBA33.760.998
The use of energy-saving technology in buildings is conducive to environmental protectionBA43.630.984
Subjective Norms
(SN)		Exemplary normI know that there are more rural residents who use building energy-saving technologySN13.370.926
I regularly communicate the possibilities of energy-saving technology in buildingsSN23.290.995
Directive normThe publicity and promotion of the application of building energy-saving technology is greaterSN33.640.970
The subsidy support for the application of building energy-saving technology is relatively strongSN43.530.984
Perceived Behavioral Control
(PBC)		Self-efficacyThe installation of building energy-saving technology is easy to learn and executePBC12.351.062
The maintenance of building energy-saving technology is easy to implementPBC22.521.069
Service environmentThe installation of building energy-saving technology is guided throughout the processPBC32.481.146
The maintenance parts of building energy-saving technology are fully guaranteedPBC42.431.110
Table 2. Estimation results of model coefficients.
Table 2. Estimation results of model coefficients.
PathEstimateS.E.C.R.pStandardized
Estimate
AB<---SN0.940.007135.649***0.944
BI<---SN0.3390.01918.275***0.318
BI<---BA0.6850.01936.906***0.639
BI<---PBC0.0160.0053.592***0.017
BATA<---BI0.2510.00546.651***0.524
BATA<---PBC0.0240.0054.679***0.051
AB4<---BA1///0.949
BA3<---BA0.9940.004227.039***0.93
BA2<---BA0.9090.007137.916***0.909
BA1<---BA0.9920.005217.261***0.992
PBC4<---PBC1///0.942
PBC3<---PBC1.0650.004240.279***0.973
PBC2<---PBC0.9970.005185.557***0.976
PBC1<---PBC0.9730.006170.097***0.958
SN4<--- SN1 0.954
SN3<---SN0.9680.006169.271***0.936
SN2<---SN0.9620.007141.074***0.907
SN1<---SN0.9540.005190.403***0.967
BI1<---BI1///0.952
BI2<---BI0.9250.005175.03***0.954
BI3<---BI0.930.005178.196***0.958
BTBA1<---BATA1///0.956
BTBA2<---BATA4.3820.011397.924***0.953
BTBA3<---BATA2.7280.025110.686***0.952
***: p < 0.001, S.E. is standard error, C.R. is critical ratio and p is probability value.
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Li, S.; Hu, W. Rural Residents’ Willingness to Adopt Energy-Saving Technology for Buildings and Their Behavioral Response Path. Buildings 2024, 14, 892. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14040892

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Li S, Hu W. Rural Residents’ Willingness to Adopt Energy-Saving Technology for Buildings and Their Behavioral Response Path. Buildings. 2024; 14(4):892. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14040892

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Li, Shilong, and Wenwen Hu. 2024. "Rural Residents’ Willingness to Adopt Energy-Saving Technology for Buildings and Their Behavioral Response Path" Buildings 14, no. 4: 892. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14040892

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