A new model for assessing industrial worker behavior regarding energy saving considering the theory of planned behavior, norm activation model and human reliability

摘要

Application of energy efficiency measures is one of the most hopeful solutions to face global environmental challenges, to minimize natural resources consumption and the greenhouse effect. However, the level of implementation in the industrial sector is far below of what theoretically could be achieved due to several barriers, one of which is the behavior of industrial workers. The aim of this paper is to rank the critical factors of industrial worker behavior with relation to energy saving in an industrial organization. A case study was undertaken to analyze workers' intentions to adopt energy efficiency measures, using an extended model of the theory of planned behavior (TPB). A survey gathered the data to assess the model and a structural equation modeling (SEM) was fitted. The results indicate that two factors of the adjusted SEM model are not statistically significant, contrary to what was expected by the TPB and the human reliability; therefore, these two factors, subjective norms and performance shaping factors, should be the object of greater attention so as to influence the behavior of workers towards greater energy saving in industrial units.