What Drive Residents to Adopt the Concept of Green Housing in Nanjing, China

Although green housing is widely regarded as an effective solution to energy and environmental challenges, its actual rate of adoption remains lower than expected. In the context of increasingly prominent sustainable development goals, promoting residents’ adoption of green housing has become a key issue in advancing sustainable transformation within the housing sector. Consequently, enhancing residents’ willingness to adopt green housing is critical to its broader diffusion. Drawing on diffusion of innovation theory, attitude theory, and perceived value theory, this study develops a multidimensional integrated model to identify factors influencing the adoption of green housing. The model examines how the innovation attributes of green housing and residents’ psychological evaluations jointly shape adoption intention. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 387 residents in Nanjing, China, and the data were analysed using partial least squares modelling. The results indicate that the five attributes derived from diffusion of innovation theory are significant antecedents of residents’ attitudes. Relative advantage, compatibility, trialability, and observability exert significant positive effects on residents’ attitudes toward adopting green housing, with relative advantage emerging as the most influential factor. Complexity has a negative, though comparatively weaker, effect on residents’ attitudes toward green housing adoption. Residents’ attitudes and perceived value are identified as significant predictors of green housing adoption intention. These findings contribute to a clearer understanding of residents’ green housing adoption intentions for both researchers and practitioners. More importantly, the study offers general policy and managerial implications for governments and developers seeking to enhance the uptake of green housing.