水の保全と消費: 心理的および社会的要因の役割

概要

九州大学学術情報リポジトリ
Kyushu University Institutional Repository

Water Conservation and Consumption: The Role of
Psychological and Social Factors
ビパシャ, シンハ

https://hdl.handle.net/2324/6787658
出版情報：Kyushu University, 2022, 博士（学術）, 課程博士
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名 ： Bipasha Singha

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論 文 名 ： Water Conservation and Consumption: The Role of Psychological and Social Factors
（水の保全と消費: 心理的および社会的要因の役割）
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分 ：甲

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論 文 内 容 の 要 旨
Thesis Summary
Water is necessary to produce energy, food, and belongings as well as amenities in many sectors of society.
In many places of the world, the substantial improvements in water withdrawal, contamination, lifestyle,
and environmental changes have resulted in severe water scarcity. Promoting residential water conservation
is essential to address water shortages caused by the rapidly increasing demand for water in both developed
and developing countries. Understanding the key factors that influence water conservation efforts is essential
because it can help implement effective policies for managing water demand. While much research has
focused on some particular aspects based on several theories that contribute to the acceptability of new
behaviors, other factors that significantly explain these actions have been overlooked. To better understand
how individuals use and conserve water, this study set out to identify significant social, psychological, and
behavioral aspects.
In the first project, a total of 625 international students and employees from various universities in
Fukuoka, Japan, participated in a survey. According to the structural equation modeling results, the
suggested model accounts for 46% of the variability in water conservation activity. Attitude, responsibility,
and culture were strongly correlated with awareness of water issues. There was a clear relationship between
attitude, responsibility, and emotion, except for culture. Finally, significant, and favorable relationships have
been found between water conservation behavior with emotion, culture, habit, and involvement. This study
combines these components into a single model to characterize individual water conservation behavior
accurately. According to the sequential regression model, all drivers, including demographic factors, increased
the variation's contribution to water saving to 53%. The positive attitude, mood, and water-saving behavior
of female participants were much higher than those of male participants. When compared to younger
individuals, older participants had higher degrees of awareness, culture, habit, and water conservation
behavior. Finally, participants thought that consciousness of water issues was the most crucial factor in
behavior related to water conservation.
In the second project, another questionnaire survey on 514 Japanese adults was also conducted to see how
these variables influence their water consumption and conservation behavior. To examine the direct and
indirect effects of socio-psychological and behavioral factors on consumption and conservation practices,
structural equation modeling was carried out by controlling multiple demographic variables. The advocated
model explained 57% of the variation in water conservation practices and 55% variance in water consumption.
Individuals’ awareness of water issues was found to be linked to attitudes, responsibility, water use habits,
involvement, and emotion. Furthermore, the attitude had a strong positive relationship with habit and
emotion, and responsibility significantly influenced emotion and involvement. Finally, water conservation
behavior was strongly and positively associated with emotion, habit, and participation, whereas water
consumption was negatively linked to emotion, habit, and involvement statistically. The analysis also

indicated that higher-income respondents conserve less water and use more water than lower-income
respondents. Moreover, as people get older, their water conservation behavior improves while their usage
decreases. Similarly, when the number of rooms and family size expands, water conservation actions decrease,
and water use increases. Water conservation is crucial to guaranteeing future water availability in a world
where natural resources like water are becoming increasingly limited. These findings may help policymakers
improve household awareness, responsibility, and participation in water conservation measures.
The framework of the Ph.D. thesis consists of five main chapters as follows:
Chapter 1 provides background information about the water shortage of different places, including Japan,
and possible explanations. Moreover, this chapter confers the importance of conserving water and discusses
several psychological, social, and behavioral variables in properly comprehending how individuals use water
and make water-related decisions. This section includes the significance of the current study and presents
the research objectives of two projects.
Chapter 2 summarizes the study's theoretical background based on a literature review. This section contains
diverse theories related to water-using behavior, such as the Theory of Reasoned Action, the Theory of
Planned Behavior, the Social Cognitive Theory, the Value-Belief-Norm Theory, and so on. This chapter
presents these theories clearly and precisely with a theoretical model to better understand them.
Chapter 3 introduces the proposed model and study hypotheses (first project), followed by a discussion of the
key survey methodologies, including sample, questionnaire construction (content validity and reliability),
data collection, measurements, and data processing procedures. In detail, this chapter comprises the method
of analysis, why this method is used, types of methods, steps of the analysis, and relevant model fit indices to
determine the proposed model fit or not. Finally, chapter 3 reveals the results of the first projects regarding
the impact of several factors on the water conservation behavior of international residents.
Chapter 4 explains about the proposed model, hypotheses, sample selection, data collection procedure, and
results of the second project. This chapter demonstrates different types of reliability and validity of the
questionnaire based on the Japanese version, path analysis, correlation test, ordered logistic regression model,
and direct and indirect effects of psychological, social, and behavioral factors on water consumption and
conservation activities. Chapter 4 also depicts the influence of demographic and situational determinants on
consumption and conservation patterns.
Finally, Chapter 5 highlights the findings, discussion, potential implications, and limitations. In addition, it
presents some recommendations for prospective investigators suggesting that more research is needed to
have a better knowledge of the drivers of water use behavior to build successful water demand management
approaches. Lastly, chapter 5 finishes with possible research ideas for future work.

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