Development of a low carbon lifestyle predictive model in Putrajaya, Malaysia

This research examined low-carbon lifestyle adoption in the quest to understand why the public have not enthusiastically taken up this new lifestyle. Putrajaya was chosen as the location of the study because it is Malaysia’s pioneer low-carbon city, a model city that embraces the concept of sustainable development with a goal of reducing carbon footprint in all aspects of urban living. The population chosen for this study was leaders of residents’ association committees (RACs) whom are most knowledgeable about the community and their issues. The objective of this study was to assess the role of influencing factors of low-carbon lifestyle adoption. In achieving this objective, a two-staged mixed method research strategy was employed. In the first stage of the research, a combination of semi-structured interviews and a focus group discussion were used in an inductive manner to identify the key issues, factors, and relationships that are important in low-carbon lifestyle which were consequently presented in a conceptual framework. The framework provided the researcher with the basis to further probe the identified factors and relationships in the deductive stage of the research, employing a quantitative survey. The analysis from this study indicated that when asked to adopt everyday practices that mitigate climate change, people are likely to evaluate their decision against a set of criteria based on their perception on low-carbon lifestyle attributes and their own situation. Positive perception particularly the advantage and usefulness is a major influence on individual acceptance of the new lifestyle. Evidence also indicated that individuals’ behaviours particularly resource consumption and energy-related behaviours are greatly influenced by the availability of facilities and technical infrastructures, as well as instructions and guidance. Six predictor variables for predicting low-carbon lifestyle adoption were isolated, i.e., resource and support, later adopter characteristics, complexity, relative advantage, policy and guidelines, and innovator characteristics. These predictor variables were presented in a predictive equation model on low-carbon lifestyle adoption. Overall, this model was able to explain approximately 84% of the variation in low-carbon lifestyle adoption. Perception on resource and support was found to be the most important predictor, accounting for 66.7% of low-carbon lifestyle adoption. Additionally, innovator characteristics and later adopter characteristics were discovered to have moderating effects on certain predictor variables and low-carbon lifestyle adoption. Taking into consideration individuals’ perception on low-carbon lifestyle attributes and their personal characteristics, this study proposes an integrated conceptual model which offers a deeper understanding of the variables that influence the adoption of low-carbon lifestyle hence providing opportunities for directing urban communities towards a sustainable future.

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