The influence of group decision making on residents’ preferences for sustainable energy measures of dwellings

As a part of the shift towards a more sustainable society, improving the energy efficiency of the current dwelling stock has gained momentum in the past few years. In case of co-ownership of a building (e.g. apartment building), the residents of a home-owner association have to come to a collective agreement when deciding upon the implementation of sustainable energy measures of the dwellings. Stated choice modelling is a well-known technique to measure individuals’ preferences of attributes of choice alternatives. This study introduces an extension of the technique to estimate preferences of residents that takes into account group influences and group dynamics in joint decision-making. The findings of an application based on a national sample of 167 home-owner associations members indicate that owner association members show cooperative behaviour. They are willing to make concessions to their own preferences in order to reach a group decision. When preferences of members differ on outcomes that are considered to be very important, however, the willingness to adapt may be limited. We conclude therefore that compromise alternatives have a higher probability of acceptance than high-gain high-cost alternatives, given the group decision context.