Reducing household water consumption: a social marketing approach

Abstract

There is increasing pressure for society to move towards more sustainable use of its resources, and calls in the literature have been made to reassess marketing’s role in achieving such goals. This research examines how key behavioural factors influence household water use, in the context of a social marketing programme to reduce household water consumption. A model of the key drivers of household water consumption is developed and tested using a sample of 909 households in a regional city in Australia. The findings from this study support the model developed and show that in the absence of price as a rationing mechanism, the social marketing programme significantly reduces household water consumption.

Keywords:

• theory of planned behaviour
• social marketing
• sustainable consumption/marketing
• water consumption
• behavioural change

Notes

¹ The interaction term was assessed following the procedures outlined in the study by Hair et al. (2010), where the main effects model was compared against the model with main effects and the interaction term using an F-test for model comparison. The model with the interaction term had a better model fit using the F-test F_1,905 = 6.63.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ben Lowe

Ben Lowe is a Reader in Marketing at Kent Business School, University of Kent, United Kingdom.

David Lynch

David Lynch is a Research Associate at the Centre for Regional Innovation and Competitiveness, University of Ballarat, Australia.

Julian Lowe

Julian Lowe is a Professor of Business at Canterbury Christchurch Business School, Canterbury Christchurch University, UK.