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Energy efficiency and norm compliance drivers amongst industry decision-makers: evidence of intersectionality and the role of morality

Hosea Olayiwola Patrick,Laurel Besco,E. Kirk

Published 2026 in Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to explore industry decision-makers’ motivation for energy efficiency (EE) actions. The research question is: why do industry decision-makers feel obligated to comply with norms or engage in EE actions? More specifically, what types of norm compliance drivers are they responding to? This study uses a two-country (UK and Canada) survey of managers and executives in three key sectors – building and construction, hospitality and utilities to explore the presence of norm compliance driver typologies that motivate EE actions. Drawing on existing theoretical frameworks, this study defines four types of norm compliance drivers related to industry action: custom, third-party, moral and social. The results show evidence of all four, with moral as the most common norm compliance driver. The findings also point to intersectionality: the presence of more than one type of norm compliance driver in reasoning for action. Many of the responses related to moral norm compliance drivers are tied to larger environmental issues, such as climate change, which contributes to understanding how to trigger industry action on large global issues. The finding that moral drivers are a significant proportion of the underlying force behind norm compliance, coupled with the understanding that many of these statements point to larger sustainability goals, suggests policymakers need to take a closer look at how they motivate industry. The emphasis on the underlying drivers of norm obligations as a motivation for decision-makers within industry related to EE action makes this paper novel. Doing so from the perspective of industry actors is also original.

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