Information, communication and entertainment (ICE) appliances are consumer electronics and information and communication technologies (ICT). Forecasts suggest that ICE appliance use will soon become the most significant domestic electricity end-use in the UK. Knowledge concerning “real world” ICE electricity consumption is currently limited and it has been suggested that this deficiency could lead to ineffective policy programmes. This socio-technical study measured ICE appliance electricity consumption in fourteen UK households’ and undertook household interviews to explore the behavioural factors that influenced the measurements recorded. The interviews were informed by two social psychology theories: (i) Triandis’ (1977) Theory of Interpersonal Behaviour (TIB); (ii) Rogers’ (2003) Diffusion of Innovations Theory (DIT). The study supports the position that ICE appliance use and standby power consumption are significant electricity end-uses in UK homes. Key appliances that contributed to the sample’s average electricity consumption are identified. Inconspicuous electricity consumption from network appliances is an issue of particular concern due to policy gaps. The interviews found that a range of internal and external factors influenced ICE appliance use. Behavioural intentions and habits were found to be facilitated or impeded by personal ability, knowledge and physical constraints. Social structures and expectations also supported the more expansive ownership and use of ICE appliances and energy consumption was an issue largely excluded from adoption decisions. The findings imply that a multifaceted approach is required to reduce household ICE appliance electricity consumption. This study supports the recent implementation of minimum energy performance standards and provides further recommendations that include: (i) improved product design; (ii) the expansion of mandatory energy labelling; (iii) improved electricity consumption feedback in UK homes; (iv) the use of behaviour change campaigns; (v) the integration of ICE appliance energy saving objectives into UK policies.

Abstract Increasingly, organizations and individuals rely upon technologies and networks more and more. Likewise, these environments are infested with more dangers, which could be avoided if computer users were to follow general security guidelines or procedures. Despite the ever-increasing threat, little research has addressed or explained why individuals purposefully engage in behaviors that make them more vulnerable to these threats, rather than avoiding or protecting themselves from such threats. Despite the advantage that could be afforded by understanding the motivations behind such behaviors, research addressing these behaviors is lacking or focused on very specific theoretical bases. This dissertation addresses this research gap by focusing on security-related behaviors that have yet to be addressed in this research stream, and by using novel theoretical perspectives that increase our insight into these types of behaviors. Four studies (n =  1,430) are tested and reported here that support the four behaviors and theoretical perspectives that are of focus in this dissertation. By considering additional theories, constructs, and theoretical perspectives, this dissertation provides several important contributions to security-related behaviors. The results of this study provide new insights into the motivations behind the purposeful enactment of behaviors that increase one’s vulnerability to technological threats and risks. / Tiivistelmä Organisaatiot ja ihmiset ovat yhä enenevissä määrin riippuvaisia teknologiasta ja tietoverkoista. Tällöin he myös kohtaavat entistä enemmän tietoturvariskejä, joita olisi mahdollista välttää noudattamalla tietoturvaohjeita ja -politiikkoja. Huolimatta näistä jatkuvasti yleistyvistä riskeistä, tähän mennessä ei juurikaan ole tehty tutkimusta, joka selittää ihmisten tietoista tietoturvaohjeiden ja -politiikkojen laiminlyöntiä, joka altistaa heidät tietoturvariskeille. Aikaisempi ihmisten tietoturvakäyttäytymisen syiden ymmärtämiseen keskittyvä tutkimus tarkastelee ilmiötä yksipuolisesti tiettyihin teoreettisiin lähtökohtiin nojautuen. Tämä väitöskirjatyö tarkastelee ihmisten tietoturvakäyttäytymisen syitä uudesta teoreettisesta näkökulmasta. Väitöskirja sisältää neljä tutkimusta (n = 1430), jotka tarkastelevat erityyppistä tietoturvakäyttäytymistä erilaisista teoreettisista lähtökohdista. Väitöskirja täydentää olemassa olevaa tietoturvakäyttäytymisen tutkimusta uusien teorioiden, käsitteiden ja teoreettisten näkökulmien avulla.

Made available in DSpace on 2010-04-20T20:08:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 71050100644.pdf: 2460084 bytes, checksum: 241365dd3cddc6269db968680fafb88a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-03-04T00:00:00Z / Há uma crescente preocupação em relação à temática dos resíduos sólidos entre acadêmicos, governos, empresas e indivíduos, embora pouco se conheça sobre os motivos que direcionam as escolhas pessoais no descarte de itens recicláveis dentro do domicílio. As pessoas participam ou não de programas de coleta seletiva por motivos que não são aparentes e nem diretamente identificados. Assim, o problema desta tese foi: Que determinantes influenciam o comportamento para reciclagem? Quais implicações disso para formulação de políticas públicas direcionadas ao comportamento para reciclagem? Em torno desta questão, o objetivo foi entender o quanto os modelos cognitivo-comportamentais predizem e explicam o comportamento para reciclagem (CR), buscando examinar a relação cognição-comportamento proposta pela sua fundamentação teórica. Nesta Tese parte-se da premissa de que existe uma lacuna entre a pose de uma atitude pró-ambiental e a demonstração do comportamento, o que tem sido conhecido como hiato atitude-comportamento. Para isso, optou-se pela análise comparativa do poder preditivo de modelos de escolha racional (Teoria do Comportamento Planejado e Teoria do Comportamento Interpessoal) e do Modelo Atitude-Comportamento-Contexto. Considerou-se uma amostra não probabilística (N=400) de responsáveis por domicílios paulistanos que constavam na lista de assinantes de telefones fixos da Telefônica. Posteriormente os dados coletados foram submetidos à Modelagem de Equações Estruturais. Os resultados empíricos comprovaram a premissa que fundamenta esta Tese, mostrando efeito nulo da variável atitude na predição do comportamento para reciclagem. Os dados também revelaram que a melhor preditora de comportamento para reciclagem foi o hábito, seguido das influências sociais de grupos primários, controle percebido e da conveniência da coleta seletiva. Emergem daí a importância dos determinantes externos (contexto) como característica-chave para intervenções em políticas públicas direcionadas às mudanças comportamentais, conforme pressupostos do modelo ABC. / There is a growing concern about the issue of solid waste among academics, governments, companies and individuals, but little is known about the motives that drive personal choices in the disposal of recyclable items in a house. People participate or not programs of selective collection for reasons that are not apparent and not directly identified. Thus, the problem of this thesis was: what determinants influence that behavior for recycling? What are its implications for the formulation of public policies directed to the behavior for recycling? Concerning this issue, the goal was to understand how cognitive-behavioral models predict and explain the behavior for recycling, seeking to examine the relation cognition-behavior proposed in the theoretical basis. For this, the researcher opted for the comparative analysis of the predictive power of rational choice model (Theory of Planned Behavior and Theory of Interpersonal Behavior) and the Attitude, Behavior, Context model. It was used with a random sample (N = 400) of households situated in the city of São Paulo, taken from the list of subscribers of telephones (Telefônica). Subsequently, the collected data were submitted to the Structural Equation Modeling. The empirical results showed no effect of the variable attitude, reveling that the best predictor of behavior for recycling was the habit, followed by perceived control, social influences of primary groups and the selective collection convenience. Hence the emerging importance of the external determinants (context) as a key feature for interventions in public policies directed to behavioral changes, as assumptions of the ABC model.