Bridging Values and Actions: A Sequential Moderated‐Mediation Pathway to Promoting Socially Responsible Energy Citizenship Behaviour

ABSTRACT The use of sustainable energy driven by socially conscious consumer behaviour has gained a prominent place in policy and advocacy campaigns. Grounded in value‐attitude‐behaviour, the present study advances its knowledge by investigating the impact of energy citizenship values on socially responsible behaviour, with environmental self‐efficacy and behavioural willingness acting as sequential mediators. With the VAB structure, the study also investigates the moderating role of government policy support promoting the connection between energy citizenship values and environmental self‐efficacy. To test the moderated sequential model, the study conducted a two‐wave field survey among Vietnamese household energy consumers. The interval between the two waves was 1 month in order to capture the temporal effect in the model. Findings of the study reveal that energy citizenship values influence pro‐environmental behaviours in the presence of heightened environmental self‐efficacy and behavioural willingness. In addition, the inclusion of perceived government policy support as a moderator amplifies the relationship between energy citizenship values and environmental self‐efficacy, further leading to improved socially responsible energy citizenship behaviour. To attain higher levels of community participation in sustainable energy transformation, these results underscore the escalation of congruence between personal values, perceived self‐efficacy and institutional support. This paper contributes to the literature on energy citizenship and consumption by identifying the psychological and external factors that facilitate sustainable energy practices. Some practical considerations include what policies and programmes can be developed to convert people's energy citizenship values to self‐efficacy for environmental action that promotes socially responsible energy citizenship behaviour.