Can community energy initiatives motivate sustainable energy behaviours? The role of initiative involvement and personal pro-environmental motivation

Community energy initiatives aim to promote sustainable energy behaviours. Personal pro-environmental motivation may influence involvement in these initiatives as well as sustainable energy behaviours. This raises the question whether initiative involvement is uniquely associated with sustainable energy behaviours when accounting for personal pro-environmental motivation. A large-scale questionnaire study among members and non-members of 29 community energy initiatives revealed that different types of personal pro-environmental motivation were indeed related to initiative involvement and sustainable energy intentions and behaviours. Yet, initiative involvement—membership and identification—was generally also uniquely related to sustainable energy intentions and behaviours. Besides, personal pro-environmental motivation and initiative involvement were both uniquely related to broader pro-environmental and communal intentions.