Proposing a socio-psychological model for adopting green building technologies: A case study from Iran

Abstract Energy crisis, environmental degradation, urbanization, industrialization, and climate change pose serious challenges to sustainable development. The expansion of green buildings (GBs) is regarded both as an effective method for energy consumption and an important strategy in the construction industry. However, in Iran due to lack of knowledge and awareness, uncertainty, and permission-related problems, GBs have failed to attract the attention of developers and purchasers. Therefore, identifying the factors that influence the adoption of GBs in the Iranian setting is still unknown and needs a critical examination. To fill this gap, the present study expands the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) by adding five factors (including social influence, subjective knowledge, environmental attitude, perceived cost, and trust in responsible organizations) and examining their impacts on building experts’ adoption of GBTs. The sample of the study included 301 GB experts in Tehran City, Iran. Sixteen hypotheses were proposed and tested applying the partial least squares path modeling (PLS) approach. The results indicate subjective knowledge was only a good predictor of intention and did not exercise an influence on attitude and perceived usefulness. Social trust, attitude, and perceived cost also predicted intention. Perceived usefulness was a good predictor of both attitude and intention. Perceived ease of use was a good predictor of perceived usefulness and attitude. The results of this study provide key insights into promoting GBTs, as an effective pro-environmental behavior, in developing countries.