Evaluating how social psychological aspects affect the choices of occupant behaviours: A modified motivation, opportunity and ability framework approach

This study evaluates the impact of social psychological aspects on adaptive and nonadaptive occupant behaviours in offices. The evaluation is based on a survey synthesising previous research insights on social science theories, where subjective aspects were considered by adapting a modified motivation, opportunity, and ability framework. A questionnaire was distributed across the general office building population in New Zealand, and 247 valid answers were achieved. A Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach was used to evaluate the subjective effects on the choices of occupant behaviours. The results showed that the attitudes, personal norms, organisational support, behavioural interventions, and perceived knowledge (factor loadings >0.50) were significant indicators of adaptive behaviours and positively affected the choices of occupants' adaptive actions. Overall, the study outcomes enable the improvement of occupant energy saving behaviours by applying subjective aspects related to the office environment. Furthermore, this study provides insights for investigating occupants' social and psychological perspectives on energy saving in their workplaces amid the COVID-19 and post lockdown situations.