The role of lifestyle, environmental concerns, and personal preferences in energy, water, and food saving behaviors

Abstract It is critical to understand the household behaviors toward resource consumption, without which intra and intergenerational sustainability cannot be ensured. The capital city of Pakistan, like many other rapidly urbanizing cities, faces risks of unsustainability due to large‐scale population influx and urban expansion. Therefore, this study aims to collect primary evidence and analyze the role of households' socioeconomic characteristics and intergenerational preferences in determining energy, food, and water saving behavior (EFW) for sustainability. The ordered logistic regression (OLR) model is applied separately for energy, food, and water saving. The role of gender is found to be significant for energy, food, and water saving, whereas males are more inclined toward water saving and females are more concerned about food saving and energy saving. In addition, income and convenient lifestyle negatively influence these saving behaviors. Those who perceive saving natural resources as a challenge and are worried about the sustainability of future generations are more likely to conserve energy, food, and water. From a policy perspective, developing a rigorous framework for sustainability may include awareness campaigns and innovative practices that are critical.