Values, Social Norms, And Sustainable Lifestyles: An Empirical Study In Vietnam

Abstract

This paper examines the influence of personal values and social norms on sustainable lifestyles in the Vietnamese context, a transition country. We built an integrated research model by combining social norms with personal values to test their effect on two sustainable behaviors, including water and energy use and sustainable mobility. A self-administration online survey was conducted to collect data. After four months, 385 valid responses were received. Structural equation modeling analysis was employed to test the proposed hypotheses. Our findings reveal that water and energy use is positively influenced by biospheric values, egoistic values, and social norms. Moreover, sustainable mobility is positively affected by egoistic values and social norms. Notably, hedonic values have no impact on both water and energy use and sustainable mobility. As a result, this present study sheds light on the sustainable lifestyles of people in a transition economy and highlights the quest for more research on this topic in Vietnam. It is suggested that the government, policymakers, and other institutions should collaborate to implement social campaigns to promote sustainable lifestyles in Vietnam. Furthermore, the traditional cultural values should be notified to encourage young Vietnamese people to take action to protect the environment for our future generations.