Development and Primary Validating of “Saving Electricity scale based on Social Status Upgrading"

For some people, social status seems to be a factor in saving electricity power. The aim of this study was to develop and validate an electricity-saving scale based on social status upgrading. In conducting this study, using the relevant theories, the scale was prepared. For investigating validity and reliability the opinion of experts, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and Cronbachchr('39')s alpha index was used to examine the internal consistency of the scale. The number of items obtained in the study of theories was 20 items, which were reduced to 13 items after review by experts. The sample size in the primary study was 193 people and in the second study was 366 people were selected from Iranian cyberspace users by available sampling method. Our results showed that 9 items had the desired factor load to measure the factors and the 2-factor model give the best fitting with data. The factor load of 0.40 and above in all items in exploratory factor analysis confirmed the sufficient reliability of the structures of the scale. The indexes obtained in the confirmatory factor analysis also indicated high validity of the scale. χ2/df=1.93, GFI=0.93, AGFI=0.95, RMR=0.025, NFI=0.92, NNFI=0.99, IFI=0.97, CFI=0.97, RMSEA=0.049. Cronbachchr('39')s alpha index was 0.88 for the first factor and 0.85 for the second factor. This study supported the conceptualization of the relation between social status motivation and electricity power saving. It provides some psychometric evidence for this self-report scale that was developed based on the role of social status in electricity saving behavior. It seemed that 2 personality traits; being motivated for keeping social image and prestige, are related to electricity power-saving behaviors.