Abstract

AGUIRRE PADILLA, Nathalie Isabel; ALVARADO ESPEJO, Johanna Magaly  and  PONCE, Pablo. Incidence of COVID-19, social norms, and environmental awareness on the saving of electrical energy in homes in Loja. Revista Economía y Política [online]. 2023, n.38, pp.92-118.  Epub July 30, 2023. ISSN 2477-9075.  https://doi.org/10.25097/rep.n38.2023.05.

The measures to mitigate the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spread generated changes in human behavior. In this context, the following investigation aims to examine the incidence that COVID-19 had on saving electrical energy in homes in Loja's City during the pandemic. Therefore, a survey was carried out, the same one that was applied to 387 homes in the city, to find out the environmental behavior they maintained during the pandemic. Subsequently, the information was processed using a Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM). The measurement and structural model were validated to verify the consistency of the results and study hypotheses. The results revealed that COVID-19 is negatively related to the saving of electric energy; that is, it did not increase the saving of electric energy; on the contrary, it decreased. Other factors associated with environmental awareness and social norms influence the conservation of electrical energy. From the results, some policy implications are derived to improve environmental practices of saving electricity to promote ecological sustainability.

Keywords : Pandemic; Environmental behavior; Social disruption; Structural equations model; COVID-19.

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