*5.2. Limitations and Further Studies*

This research has some limitations as well. First, the findings in this study cannot be generalized to the population in other settings. The field experiment in this study was conducted in Xi'an, China. Due to the di fferent social and economic backgrounds, the results should be empirically validated with caution before applying in di fferent contexts. Second, despite the e fforts made by the researcher to maximize the potential respondents, the sample size for the study is relatively small. The sample sizes for the two groups were 335 and 348, respectively. Although the sample size meets the requirement of statistical data analysis, further studies would benefit from a larger sample size. Moreover, the selected study area is a typical urban area in a well-developed Chinese city, therefore the percentages of bachelor's or higher-level degree holders and high-income families in this study exceed the average level in China since the rural population constitutes approximately 45% in China. Follow-up studies are therefore recommended to take into account energy-saving studies in other regions and pay attention to rural areas, which are conducive to the comprehensiveness of the research. In addition, the authors recommend that future research would benefit from employing di fferent personality inventories to avoid excessive two-variables-based latent constructs.
