Conservation behavior and the structure of satisfactions

Abstract

This article deals with the concerns, the predicted rewards, and the intrinsic satisfactions that people who do conserve derive from their conserving behaviors. In order to investigate the factors that play a role in maintaining energy-conserving behavior, interviews were conducted which focused on the intrinsic satisfactions that are derived from people's everyday pursuits. The thirty participants were individuals who were known to be concerned about energy conservation issues, and special emphasis was placed on those satisfactions associated with their daily environmental stewardship activities. Eleven distinct types of satisfactions were found in the data with only one being economic in nature. The range of intrinsic satisfactions found suggests that many potentially fruitful avenues exist for encouraging the adoption of energy conservation practices among a much broader population.