Water demand management is attracting increasing attention within the field of water resource management. Residents are the basic water use units and are the participants, executors and beneficiaries of water demand management. Research on the rules, influential factors and mechanisms of residents' water consumption behavior serves as the micro-foundation of effective water demand management strategies. From the standpoints of sociology, economics and computer simulation of residents' water consumption behavior, this paper gives a detailed review of research progress both within China and abroad to provide a reference for related research. The investigation shows that with the development of investigation techniques and theories, sociological research on residents' water consumption behavior gradually progresses from easily measurable objective factors to subjective factors that are difficult to measure. It obtains data through latent variables and observational variables, and uses the theory of planned behavior to deconstruct residents' water consumption behavior in myriad aspects. It also uses structural equation modeling, large-scale sociological survey experiments and environmental psychology repeated behavior models to reveal the impact mechanism. Economic research on residents' water consumption behavior aims to analyze the mechanism of micro-individual behavior under the influence of economic measures. This research also simulates the change of variables through econometric models to evaluate price elasticity of demand, impact of water pricing structures and billing frequency on demand, the comprehensive impact of water regulation and price regulations on residents' water consumption behavior, and how restrictions work with regard to economic measures. Research on computer simulations of residents' water consumption behavior that focus on improving simulation algorithms of micro-individual behavior, such as agent-based models expanding to multi-agent-based models, combined with complex network theory and social influence theory, can collectively summarize water consumption at the regional scale and repeat historical water resources events and simulation of water demand management strategies to provide recommendations for assessing and improving policy. Generally speaking, relevant domestic research is still in the follow-up stage; however, the focus is on improving the applicability of research methods in light of domestic practice. Future research needs to strengthen the synthesis of analytical methods such as sociology, economics and computer simulation, understanding residents' diversity issues, and explore habits, preferences, awareness, psychology and other potential factors behind residents' water consumption behavior. © 2018, Editorial Board of Advances in Water Science. All right reserved.
