Energy consumption behaviour and the role of cognitive norms among the higher education institution students

The higher education (HE) sector often offers great opportunities to solve sustainability challenges through research and dissemination of knowledge to influence behaviours and change the energy consumption patterns of students and staff towards more sustainable practices. By using ‘energy culture’ framework from the literature, this study aims to offer in-depth understanding into the energy consumption behaviour of students that can eventually pave way for good energy management practices at higher education institutions. Considering a sample size of 110, this study assessed the influence of cognitive norms on the behaviour using the energy culture framework. Variables have been adopted using the energy culture framework to understand sustainable energy consumption behaviour among students of higher education institutions. The empirical analysis revealed that the cognitive norms influence the material culture and practice variables significantly. By understanding the influence of cognitive norms, namely, education, comfort, and environmental concern, on the behavioral practices, namely, social interaction, building regulation, social marketing,and activities,the study identifies the variables for promoting energy consumption behaviours. This study highlights social marketing, education and comfort as potential variables for promoting efficient energy consumption behaviours among students and contributes towards advancing knowledge in energy consumption.