Factors driving Indian consumer’s purchase intention of roof top solar
International Journal of Energy Sector Management
ISSN: 1750-6220
Article publication date: 7 February 2019
Issue publication date: 8 August 2019
Abstract
Purpose
The solar energy sector has been growing with dramatic reduction in commercial pricing, improved efficiencies and improved deployments/usage conveniences. The purpose of this study is to understand the drivers of the purchase intent for rooftop (RT) solar. This will enable policymakers to improve the penetration of this new and promising green technology.
Design/methodology/approach
This research leverages the framework of unified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2 (UTAUT2) to identify and build a quantitative approach to identify factors (and their relative impact on) the purchase intent of a domestic RT solar buyer. The 400 respondents’ field data were collected in Bangalore (a high RT solar penetration region) and Delhi NCR (relatively lower RT solar penetration region).
Findings
The exploratory factor analysis study revealed that the consumers’ purchase intention of RT Solar is shaped by seven main factors, namely, environmental concerns, social beliefs, hedonic motivation, performance expectancy, price value, self-efficacy and effort expectancy, and that these factors explain 79.2 per cent of the field data. This study finds that social beliefs followed by effort expectance concerns are key factors explaining approximately 20 per cent of the purchase intent each, while unit change in price value beliefs explain about 18 per cent of the purchase intent.
Practical implications
Suggested policy measures include building on strengthening emergence of local solar evangelist groups in the communities and easing effort expectance items (e.g. building legal, regulatory frameworks and financial tools for solar penetration models such as renewable energy services companies).
Originality/value
This paper is the first attempt to model the consumer behavior of the Indian RT solar photovoltaic buyer leveraging the UTAUT2.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This project is a part of PhD research on the solar purchase intent of a residential user in India. While the scholar is supported by Applied Materials India Pvt Ltd (Indian Subsidiary of Applied Materials, USA) under its continuous learning program, there is no involvement of applied materials in the project work or in the reports/papers that result from it. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors. The research team thanks ARB Research for their excellent and systematic field survey/data collection and to various industry stakeholders who have helped evolve this research with their valuable insights.
Citation
Aggarwal, A.K., Syed, A.A. and Garg, S. (2020), "Factors driving Indian consumer’s purchase intention of roof top solar", International Journal of Energy Sector Management, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 539-555. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJESM-07-2018-0012
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited