Emotions toward water consumption: Conservation and wastage

AbstractWater is a key element for the human survival but unsustainable patterns of water consumption are still evident. Many factors influence water conservation but the existing literature investigating psychological determinants of water conservation have so far focused on cognitive or motivational factors. However, there is growing evidence for the important role of emotions as predictors of environmental engagement in general and water conservation in particular. The present article contributes to this recognition of the role of emotions by reporting two studies on the development and validation of a measure to access negative emotions regarding water wastage, the Rating Scale of Emotions towards Water Wastage (RSEWW). Results confirmed that this 12-item scale form a unidimensional measure that reliably predict participants’ behavioral intention to participate in activities for the water conservation. Theoretical and practical implications from the findings are discussed in relation to the extant literature