Abstract

During the past decade, residential consumers’ adoption of energy-efficient lighting has increased slowly in the United States. To identify residential consumers’ attitudes and behaviors toward the adoption of energy-efficient lighting, this study examined gender differences in (1) residential consumers’ environmental behaviors in relation to lighting practice and (2) background variables of environmental behaviors including ecological value orientation, subjective norms, and lighting perceptions. Data were collected from residents in a Midwestern town in the United States; 303 surveys were used for the analysis. The findings indicated that women were more likely to engage in energy-saving practices and were more willing to pay a higher price for energy-efficient light sources. However, no gender differences emerged in the purchase of energy-efficient light sources and support for policies banning inefficient incandescent light sources. In terms of environmental attitudes, women scored significantly higher in altruistic and biospheric values than men, yet there was no difference in egoistic values. In addition, compared to men, women scored higher on subjective norms in the adoption of energy-efficient lighting. Finally, women were more likely to perceive lighting as an important factor in their everyday lives, prefer incandescent lighting, and perceive fluorescent lighting as having negative effects on human health. This study expects to contribute to the theoretical knowledge of gender differences in environmental research and provide policy makers and consumer scientists with understanding about the role of gender in residential consumers’ adoption of energy-efficient lighting.

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