Perceptions of water usage among Maltese households : an application of Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour

Abstract

Water is vital for life on Earth. Malta has a semi-arid climate that is characterized by short periods of rainfall during a part of the year. In addition, there are no lakes or rivers resulting in insufficient fresh water resources to meet the requirements of an overpopulated island. To meet demand, the country relies on a high extraction rate from underground sources supplemented by water produced via reverse osmosis plants. Given that it is known that intention is closely related to behaviour, this study investigates the intention of Maltese households to save and reduce water usage. It employs Ajzen's (1991) Theory of Planned Behaviour (TpB) to develop hypotheses that link the relevant Attitudes and their related Subjective Norms and Perceived Behaviour Control with how these impact the intention of households to save and reduce water usage. A questionnaire is developed and data are collected from a sample of Maltese households. The questionnaire was found to have acceptable psychometric properties and it allowed meaningful testing of the hypotheses. Among others, results indicate that Perceived Behaviour Control has the strongest effect on Intention to save and reduce water usage. Implications from the results for policy are drawn, limitations are noted and directions for future research are indicated.