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Eco-feedback has been considered as a promising approach to facilitating residential energy-saving behavior recently. However, the mechanism that how personality traits affect effectiveness of eco-feedback with different information delivery method is still unknown. To fill the knowledge gap, an energy conservation field experiment was conducted in residential communities in Hangzhou, China. Three information delivery methods, including stickers, WeChat, and face-to-face consultation, and two intervention contents including eco-feedback and energy-saving tips, were adopted to intervene subject residents separately. The findings suggest that the treatment effect was primarily determined by personality traits, demographics and situational factors. In addition, stickers exert a positive intervention effect during the treatment period, while WeChat and consultation do not reduce energy consumption until late stage of the experiment. In terms of personality traits, the treatment effects of stickers and consultations are more effective than WeChat for open-minded people. Neurotic residents tend to conserve more energy when they only receive energy-saving tips regardless of the information delivery method. Consequently, providing residents with customized eco-feedback according to personality traits can better improve the treatment effect. The policy implications of this research could provide insights into energy demand-side management and promote energy-saving interventions in residential sector. • Crucial factors influencing effectiveness of eco-feedback are determined. • Mechanism between personality traits and applicability of interventions is examined. • Time-dependent variation of multiple interventions is evaluated. • WeChat brings a significant drop on energy-saving effect of open-minded individuals. • Extroverted and unneurotic individuals achieve desirable intervention effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting household energy-saving behaviors requires devising effective messages and selecting appropriate message delivery methods. Meanwhile, the specific psychological factors that shape the effectiveness of interventions remains elusive. Based on an energy conservation intervention program carried out in communities in the city of Hangzhou, China in 2016, this paper investigates the impact of eco-feedback and energy-saving tips delivered to households via an instant messaging platform (i.e., WeChat), stickers combined with leaflets, and face-to-face consultations in promoting energy conservation. Psychological attributes including personal values and aspects of decision-making that affect pro-environmental behavior, as well as social and housing demographics were collected and analyzed to identify relationships between household characteristics and the effectiveness of an intervention. The findings suggest that, coupled with eco-feedback, stickers and leaflets (mean rank 37.54) performed better than other alternatives (mean rank 55.34 for WeChat group, 57.08 for consultation group) in encouraging household energy-saving behaviors. The effectiveness of eco-feedback using an instant messaging platform was revealed to be short-lived. Moreover, the study found that psychological features such as the perception of sufficient non-material incentives and opportunity to perform energy conservation behavior, as well as valuing environmental quality, personal health, and leisure time, are significantly correlated with energy savings. The findings not only contribute to future policymaking in demand-side energy conservation, but also provide insights for the cultivation of long-term behavioral changes at the neighborhood level through the effective design of communications and engagement. Image 1 • Compared the effectiveness of three types of delivering methods. • Sticker with eco-feedback is more effective in saving energy than other methods. • Effectiveness of delivering feedback using an instant message is short-lived. • Household psychological and social attributes are correlated with energy saving. • Households valuing environmental quality and health are likely to save energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]