TY - JOUR
T1 - Relating knowledge and perceptions of sustainable water management to preferences for smart irrigation technology
AU - Suh, Dong Hee
AU - Khachatryan, Hayk
AU - Rihn, Alicia
AU - Dukes, Michael
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by the Center for Landscape Conservation and Ecology at the University of Florida and the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government (NRF-2014S1A3A2044459).
PY - 2017/4/14
Y1 - 2017/4/14
N2 - Water quantity and quality concerns in urban environments have prompted conservation groups, governmental agencies, and policy makers to develop and promote residential water conservation programs, including restrictions on residential landscape irrigation practices and incentives for the adoption of water-efficient appliances. Previous literature links household characteristics, financial incentives, and demographic characteristics to the adoption of water-efficient appliances and overall water use. However, relatively little attention has been given toward understanding how homeowners' perceptions and knowledge of smart irrigation technologies affect their preferences or stated purchase likelihood of such irrigation equipment. To address this gap in the literature, this paper identifies perception- and knowledge-related factors that are correlated with the purchase likelihood of smart irrigation controllers. The generalized logit regression model results suggest that knowledge about irrigation systems and residential landscaping are positively correlated with purchase likelihood. Similarly, homeowners' perceptions about conservation efforts, water restrictions, and their neighbors' irrigation habits all increase purchase likelihood. Combined with statistically-significant correlations of several socio-demographic variables and purchase likelihood, these results have theoretical and practical implications, which are summarized in this paper.
AB - Water quantity and quality concerns in urban environments have prompted conservation groups, governmental agencies, and policy makers to develop and promote residential water conservation programs, including restrictions on residential landscape irrigation practices and incentives for the adoption of water-efficient appliances. Previous literature links household characteristics, financial incentives, and demographic characteristics to the adoption of water-efficient appliances and overall water use. However, relatively little attention has been given toward understanding how homeowners' perceptions and knowledge of smart irrigation technologies affect their preferences or stated purchase likelihood of such irrigation equipment. To address this gap in the literature, this paper identifies perception- and knowledge-related factors that are correlated with the purchase likelihood of smart irrigation controllers. The generalized logit regression model results suggest that knowledge about irrigation systems and residential landscaping are positively correlated with purchase likelihood. Similarly, homeowners' perceptions about conservation efforts, water restrictions, and their neighbors' irrigation habits all increase purchase likelihood. Combined with statistically-significant correlations of several socio-demographic variables and purchase likelihood, these results have theoretical and practical implications, which are summarized in this paper.
KW - Landscape irrigation
KW - Landscape management
KW - Urban landscaping
KW - Water conservation
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U2 - 10.3390/su9040607
DO - 10.3390/su9040607
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85018490670
VL - 9
JO - Sustainability
JF - Sustainability
SN - 2071-1050
IS - 4
M1 - 607
ER -