Predicting intention of residential solar installation: The role of ecological lifestyle,consumer innovativeness,perceived benefit,government incentives,and solar product knowledge

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the relationships between personal traits (sustainable lifestyle and consumer innovativeness), psychological and physical benefits (warm glow and government incentive), attitude toward rooftop photovoltaic (PV) system installation, and intention to install a residential PV system. Furthermore, we examined the moderating effect of solar product knowledge on the relationship between attitude and intention to install a residential PV system. Convenience sampling was performed to collect data in this study. An anonymous questionnaire was distributed to participants in the form of an online survey. To prevent priming effects, the research constructs were not presented in the questionnaire, and the questions were not presented in the order of the research constructs. Each questionnaire item was evaluated using a 7-point Likert scale, and 370 valid surveys were received. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was employed to verify the validity of the constructs. The CFA results confirmed that the measurement scales used in this study were appropriate. The conclusions of this study are as follows. First, ecological lifestyle, consumer innovativeness, government incentive, and warm glow affect attitude toward rooftop PV system installation. Second, this attitude influences the intention of rooftop PV system installation, and consumer knowledge moderates the relationship between attitude and intention toward rooftop PV system installation. This study's findings provide a comprehensive theoretical and empirical basis for understanding the antecedents of attitude toward the installation of residential solar energy systems. Thus, the public sector can use the aforementioned findings as a basis for developing a residential solar energy promotion policy, and relevant public and private companies can use these findings as a basis to create attractive marketing strategies for residential solar energy technology.

Keywords

Residential solar ecological lifestyle consumer innovativeness warm glow government incentive knowledge

Introduction

The United Nations proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 to create a blueprint for the common prosperity of humanity and the Earth. However, each aspect of sustainability is interconnected; thus, all countries should localize SDGs and collaborate as they endeavor to reverse the current global warming trend and achieve sustainable development. The question of how to achieve SDGs has become a serious one for humanity. The advancement of green and renewable energy sources is a universal value pursued by modern humans. The aim of the SDGs is to ensure that all people have access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy. Renewable energy is critical for achieving the SDGs because it mitigates the environmental degradation and resource depletion caused by fossil fuels. Solar energy is the fastest-growing source of renewable energy on the planet. Solar technology is still in its infancy, and its potential is only beginning to be realized. Installation costs for solar technology have also decreased, and trends indicate that they will continue to decline. Solar energy is also affordable in developing countries because of the inadequate infrastructure supporting traditional energy sources in these countries. Consequently, developing countries typically benefit directly from falling solar prices. Moreover, the generation of solar energy is outperforming all forecasts. The existence of a clean and long-term energy source can help meet the growing need for electricity worldwide.

Partial replacement of fossil fuels for renewable energy, particularly solar, is becoming feasible. Taiwan government is actively promoting the development of new energy and aims to phase out nuclear energy by 2025, all by increasing the share of renewable energy to 20%. By 2025, the solar project capacity will need to reach 20 GW, whereas that of offshore wind power will need to reach 5.5 GW. The progress has been slow because energy policies and schemes have not adequately addressed some market and behavioral obstacles. Rather than ground-mounted solar power stations (which require a vast amount of land), residential solar systems can be used to eliminate the related land costs. Besides, residential PV also brings other benefits such as distributed energy resources and low air pollution, which could have been attained by the local utilities. Such systems are particularly applicable in urban areas and can aid countries aiming to use solar energy as their primary renewable energy source. Understanding the photovoltaic (PV) potential of residential systems is essential to utility planning, financing scheme deployment, grid capacity accommodation, and formulation of flexible energy policies.

Economic incentives have been the primary means through which the government has increased solar system adoption. The economic incentives for residential solar energy system adoption provide solar adopters numerous benefits and encourage installation in the private sector.¹ Additionally, other factors have been discovered by researchers that affect solar energy system implementation by homeowners. The primary reasons for such implementation are an environmental concern and lifestyle reasons.² This literature reveals that incentives from the government, personal traits, wish to live an ecological lifestyle and be innovative, can affect a consumer's solar energy system adoption. People gain a sense of well-being when they act altruistically (referred to as a warm glow) concerning environment-related products.³ Certain households were discovered to be proud of being producers of green electricity, with the warm glow potentially being more crucial than monetary calculations in the decision to install solar energy systems.⁴ Product knowledge is a strong motivation for purchase behavior related to solar-based technology.⁵ Whether green energy adoption can be effective depends on valid brand promotion, marketing communication strategy, and enhancement of consumer perception.⁶ This study incorporated personal traits, perceived benefits, government incentives, and solar product knowledge into a model to explore behavioral attitude and intention. The objectives were to investigate (1) the impact of personal traits, perceived benefits, and government incentive on attitude toward residential PV installation; (2) examine the moderating effect of solar product knowledge on this attitude; and (3) the relationship of attitude toward residential PV installation with the stated intention. This study's conclusions provide a comprehensive theoretical and empirical basis that can be employed to understand the antecedents of attitude toward the implementation of residential solar energy systems and thus aid the public sector in promoting residential solar energy policy and industry in creating attractive marketing for related companies.

Theory and hypotheses

Numerous models have been proposed by social scientists for determining the acceptance of innovative technology, such as the theory of reasoned action (TRA),⁷ the theory of planned behavior (TPB),⁸ technology acceptance model (TAM),⁹ and diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory.¹⁰ The TPB considers that human behavior is affected by a variety of factors, which allow us to understand the probability of an individual committing a particular behavior.⁸ TPB offers a valuable conceptual structure for dealing with the nature of human social behavior and is a common and accepted social-cognitive model of human behavior.¹¹ TPB is widely used to explain pro-environmental behavior.¹² Most of the studies based on TPB discuss the pro-environmental behavior focus on the individual's belief, such as personal attribute, environmental concern, and psychological benefit.^3,11,13 High cost is a substantial obstacle to the installation of residential solar systems; therefore, it is necessary to examine the effect of government incentives.¹⁴ Many studies have examined energy policy review incentives, whereas few have examined the perceived effect of government incentives from the public's perspective. Although TPB has been widely used in many fields, including environmental behavior, its use in assessing the impact of government incentives in the context of residential solar adoption has not been applied. This study applied TPB to evaluate the effect of government solar incentives on an integrated model examining the perspective of potential users. Furthermore, previous research has also found that higher knowledge consumers are more selective in what information they examine prior to making a choice.¹⁵ We introduce solar product knowledge into the model to explore the moderating effects of solar product knowledge on the attitude toward residential solar energy and intention. This paper will advance the application of planned behavior theory to the government incentive policy and the consumer behavior in the field of energy.

According to the TPB, beliefs affect intention and subsequent behavior through attitude. The accessible behavioral beliefs linking behavior to specific outcomes and other attributes determine a person's attitude toward the appropriate behavior. Based on the TPB, from the perspective of a residential PV installation, this paper explores the relationships among salient beliefs, public attitudes, and behavioral intentions. The conceptual framework is presented in Figure 1, showing that personal traits, perceived benefits, and government incentives affect attitude toward residential PV installation, which in turn influences installation intention. Solar product knowledge is proposed to moderate the intention of installing a residential PV system. This study preliminarily assumed that intention of installing a residential PV system, the immediate antecedent of behavior is dependent on attitude toward residential PV system installation and that solar product knowledge moderates residential PV installation intention. Their attitude toward residential solar systems are a means through which consumers can define themselves because this attitude reflects their traits, the psychological benefit, and any economic incentive; the attitude thus leads them to purchase a residential PV system.

Figure 1.

Research framework.

Ecological lifestyle

Lifestyle is any distinctive and identifiable way of life, consisting of expressive behaviors that can be directly observed or deduced from observation. This concept is often used to clarify and predict consumers’ behavioral intentions. Lifestyle includes activities, interests, and opinions of the individual that is helpful for marketing researchers to find out the different consumer segments.¹⁶ Lifestyle is so important in the field of marketing communication and affects consumption patterns. Lifestyle influences the various forms of marketing communication approach. The concept of lifestyle has become a core construct of marketing research, which is called as psychographic and make a positive impact on consumer attitudes in many industries.¹³

The considerable research effort is being focused on how lifestyle is related to environmentally responsible behaviors. In addition to income and energy pricing, lifestyle strongly affects energy consumption.¹⁷ Ecological lifestyles are lifestyles that aim to reduce the use of the earth's natural resources and personal resources by an individual or society. Individuals with ecological lifestyles are highly conscious about the environment; they attempt to protect the environment through their product selection and recycling, participate in environment-related events, and continually challenge themselves.¹³ Consumers who pursue some ecological lifestyles intend to try new things and to practice new challenges. These qualities make these individuals suitable targets for new innovative products, such as residential PV systems; thus, the market is segmented by ecological lifestyle. The interest of a consumer in pro-environmental technology is dependent on the consumer's technology- and environment-related lifestyle practices; consumers with different lifestyles are engaged by programs on solar panels and green electricity for various reasons.¹⁸ When considering only small-scale solar energy production, households producing solar energy had an ecologically conscious lifestyle.² Hypothesis (H) 1 is thus proposed:

H1: Ecological lifestyle would have a significant positive association with consumer attitudes toward residential PV installation.

Consumer innovativeness

Consumer innovativeness is sometimes measured by marketing managers wanting to determine the likelihood that a target segment of consumers will adopt a new product. According to Rogers, innovativeness indicates a tendency toward early adoption.¹⁰ Early adopters are usually targeted by those marketing new products, and DOI theory and consumer adoption can be employed to identify such consumers.¹⁹ Consumer innovativeness may be better understood as being domain-specific behaviors, not overall personality traits.¹⁷ A shift toward majority renewable electricity generation is inevitable, and of the renewable technologies available, PV systems—the most mature innovation—are becoming mainstream. Consumer innovation affects the decision by households to adopt solar energy and suggested that domestic suppliers, PV system manufacturers, and early adopters all cooperate to ensure that solar energy products are economically viable.²⁰ When deciding to adopt an innovation, individuals take into account not only function, availability, cost, and expected results but also the inherent meaning of the innovation for them.²¹ Early residential photovoltaic adopters had features of interest in technological advancement and enjoyed the scientific facets of energy systems.²² Consumer innovativeness and innovation adoption behavior have been found in home solar energy system surveys.²³ Individual characteristics, such as consumer innovation for going solar, have a much greater effect on how people react. H2 is thus proposed:

H2: Consumer innovativeness would have a significant positive association with consumer attitudes toward residential PV installation.

Perceived benefit: warm glow

Andreoni (1990) proposed the phenomenon of warm glow, which holds that utility is received by people who give.²⁴ This utility is described as a warm glow, a positive emotion resulting from providing help to another person. He proved that, while altruism is impure, private and public donations are no longer ideal substitutes. Consequently, the impact of crowding-out is only partial. As a result, different forms of altruism are of high relevance for the provision of public goods. In combination with making an environmentally friendly behavioral decision, consumers felt they have contributed to the public good and thus experience moral satisfaction.²⁵ The whole of society benefits from green energy, but consumers also receive the personal benefits of a warm glow through their contribution to energy independence and climate protection. Warm glow actively drives and reinforces pro-environmental behavior. Several studies have found a warm glow as a consequence of prosocial and pro-environmental behavior.⁴

Public interest arising from the rising magnitude of many environmental impacts has led people to try a sustainable energy solution.²⁶ Solar energy has principal advantages of almost zero pollutant emissions and waste and greater energy independence at the regional and national levels.²⁷ Some households may be proud to be green electricity producers and thus experience a warm glow, with these effects potentially more crucial than the discounts offered by the government when deciding whether to install a solar energy system.⁴ The perceived benefits of a warm glow originate from an individual's positive contribution to the environmental public good and their intention to adopt green energy. H3 is thus proposed:

H3: Warm glow derived from contributing to environmental public good would have a significant positive association with consumer attitudes toward residential PV installation.

Government incentives

The solar market is highly dependent on government support policies. The high cost is a significant obstacle to PV system installation; therefore, reducing the cost of investment through strong capital incentives is necessary.¹⁴ Subsidies and incentives drive global solar PV projects. Financial incentives, government-led initiatives, and investment cost reduction are crucial factors affecting solar energy system diffusion.²⁸ In several US states, residential adoption of PV technology has accelerated rapidly over the last few years because of the attractiveness of federal, state, and local financial incentives.²⁹ Tax credits and solar rebates were at least partially the cause of this rapid growth.³⁰ Thus, incentive programs should be used to provide a “push” into residential PV installation.¹ Incentives and rebates can be active motivating factors for residential solar installation intention in the private sector. H4 is thus proposed:

H4: Government incentive programs would have a significant positive association with consumer attitudes toward residential PV installation.

Attitude toward residential Pv installation and intention

Willingness to adopt renewable energy is explainable through attitude. Attitudinal factors have been discovered to significantly improve the accuracy of predictions of the willingness of US households to pay for green energy.³¹ Positive attitude mainly predicted green electricity purchasing.³² The attitude of individuals worldwide toward solar PV energy is generally favorable, contributing to the increased prevalence of residential PV installation.³³ Attitude toward solar panels was found to affect consumers’ adoption intentions in a survey.³⁴ Attitude toward solar energy system installation may predict solar panel installation intentions. H5 is thus proposed:

H5: Consumer attitudes toward residential PV installation would have a significant positive association with adoption intention.

Solar product knowledge

In most product knowledge studies, the relationship between consumers’ product knowledge and information-searching behaviors has been the subject of investigation.¹⁵ Consumers use information from memory and experience when they attempt to make an inference regarding a missing attribute; thus, the inference is also related to consumers’ product knowledge.³⁵ When consumers have higher product knowledge, they also have higher confidence in making product decisions, as discussed in previous studies.¹⁵ Consumers with high product knowledge have higher decision confidence than those with low product knowledge.³⁶ Product knowledge might be considered an antecedent to people's degree of confidence in their decision.¹⁵

Drawing on DOI (diffusion of innovation) theory, someone can argue that residential solar adopters need to be knowledgeable of the solar product and then be motivated to raise their awareness about it. Early adopters to display more education and more knowledge about technology, particularly the attributes of the technology that are attractive.²⁰ Insufficient knowledge about solar technology is one of the barriers to adopting a residential solar system.³⁷ A solar power system contains photovoltaic (PV) panels connected to an inverter that is connected to the home's switchboard, forming a link between the solar panels and the electricity system. As the solar panel's PV cells are impacted by sunlight, the electrons are shaken loosely inside the panels and travel about. Such loose electrons are caught and continue traveling through a circuit in the same direction, which mainly generates electricity from direct current (DC). This DC energy travels down the wires on your wall from your solar panels to the inverter (or inverters), where the inverter transforms this DC energy into alternating current (AC). It is a complex system for some people without solar technology knowledge. The non-adopters had a relatively limited understanding of the technology. They believed it was impossible to grasp whether PVs had been reliable or should have grown more in the near future, which would make an investment in the coming years less viable today.³⁸ The decision to adopt residential solar technology may depend on a mixture of perceptions of oneself as an educator or leader, and the presence of social networks to improve knowledge flow.²² Residential solar adoption is associated with how people perceive solar energy technologies. Knowledge affects the way community participants view themselves concerning them and form their viewpoints. Attitude toward solar energy and intention is crucial for ensuring successful adoption. A knowledge gap related to the social aspect of the residential solar PVs exists.³⁹

The literature suggests that consumers with higher product knowledge of residential solar systems have more confidence in using residential solar systems themselves; hence, they demonstrate stronger intention to install a residential PV system. By contrast, consumers with lower product knowledge of residential solar systems are less confident about using a residential solar system by themselves and have weaker intentions to install a residential PV system. H6 is thus proposed:

H6: The degree of consumers’ solar product knowledge positively moderates the effect of attitude toward residential PV on residential PV installation intention.

Methods

Research framework and pretest

This study investigated how ecological lifestyle, consumer innovativeness, the warm glow, and government incentive influence residential PV installation attitude and intention in consumers and the moderating effect of consumer’ product knowledge. The research framework is presented in Figure 1. The scales applied to measure the research constructs were adopted from those detailed previously and then modified to increase their applicability in the present research setting. Questionnaire readability was tested and ambiguity identified by administering a pretest to 25 employees. Most of the Cronbach's α values in the pretest were greater than 0.7. To improve reliability, this study adjusted ambiguous items to form the final questionnaire.

Procedure

Taiwan took a decisive turn to scale up the use of renewable energy while reducing its dependence on fossil fuels and nuclear energy in 2016. Taiwanese people are accustomed to the sight of solar power plants. An online questionnaire was created using Survey Cake and distributed on running-related social media platforms, where we recruited participants in Taiwan. The constructs were not shown in the questionnaire in order to avoid priming effects. After the participants watched an introductory video about residential solar energy systems, they answered questions about their attitudes toward and intention to install a residential PV system. The questions were related to the effects of ecological lifestyle, consumer innovativeness, warm glow, and government incentives. Self-reports have often been employed to obtain information on the theory of consumer perception, such as the data considered in this study. To avoid common method variance (CMV), the constructs were not shown in the questionnaire, and the items were not presented in order. We recruited 385 participants through the internet; participants were provided a small fee in exchange for participation in the study, and after invalid questionnaires (e.g. those filled out incompletely and preemptively declared invalid) were removed, 370 valid questionnaires were used for analysis. The sociodemographic characteristics of the sample are listed in Table 1.

Table 1.

Socio-demographic characteristics of the sample by gender US$.

Variable	Total (n = 370)	Male (n = 199)	Female (n = 171)
Age (%)
15–25 yrs	10%	9%	12%
26–35 yrs	13%	16%	9%
36–45 yrs	29%	30%	29%
46–55 yrs	43%	38%	48%
above 55 yrs	5%	7%	3%
Income (%)	0%	0%	0%
$333-$1000	18%	11%	26%
$1000-$1667	34%	30%	37%
Above $1667	48%	59%	36%

Variable measurements

All measurements were adapted from the literature, and the translation and back-translation methods were used to accomplish cross-cultural adaptation of those measurements from English to Chinese.⁴⁰ In accordance with the research framework and literature review, the constructs of six variables were defined and measured: ecological lifestyle, consumer innovativeness, warm glow, government incentive, attitude toward residential PV installation, and residential PV installation intention. With the exception of product knowledge, which was measured by true or false question, all constructs were measured on a 7-point Likert scale, from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree).

Ecological lifestyle, consumer innovativeness, warm glow, and government incentive were set as antecedent variables. Following the residential solar system research by Chen,²³ the ecological lifestyle construct was evaluated using four items. Domain-specific innovativeness (DSI), different from global innovativeness in general areas, denotes the tendency of an individual to try innovative products, services, and processes that they are interested in.⁴¹ The four-item DSI scale was employed in this study to measure consumer innovativeness; this valid self-reporting scale is short and reliable and measures the innovativeness of a consumer for a specific product field and culture.⁴²

Three items were adapted from the green energy brand attitude research of Hartmann & Apaolaza-Ibáñez and employed for measuring the warm glow construct.¹² The incentive was measured using four items that determine the individual's assessment of their government's tariff-incentive program for residential PV systems; these items were adapted from Sun et al.² Based on the research of Rai and Beck, five items were employed to measure attitude.⁴³ Finally, the intention was measure using three items adapted from Chen.²³ The descriptive statistics of each item in every construct, including the mean, standard deviation, and standardized factor loading (SFL) of the variables are summarized in Table A.1. The product knowledge was assessed by asking the respondents to answer a series of questions specifically established and tested for this study.³⁵ The set of questions was developed with the help of energy experts and assessed both the knowledge of terminology commonly used in solar energy. The respondents were categorized into high and low product knowledge groups based on the median split. Respondents’ gender and annual income were introduced as control variables to prevent interference from unrelated factors. Participants were divided into groups based on high solar-product knowledge and low solar-product knowledge. Solar-product knowledge was divided using a median split procedure (the median in the sample was 2.00).⁴⁴ Lower scores indicated that consumers had low solar-product knowledge, and higher scores indicated that consumers had high solar-product knowledge.

Results

Measurement model

A two-step procedure was used here. Confirmatory factor analysis was employed to assess the construct's validity, and testing of the hypotheses was performed using a structural equation model. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is a multivariate statistical method used to verify the degree to which the measured variables represent the constructs. Structural equation modeling is a method of multivariate statistical analysis used to evaluate structural relations, and this approach is the combination of factor analysis and multiple regression analysis, which is used to analyze the structural link between constructs. For all constructs, the composite reliability was greater than the 0.50 criterion and Cronbach's alpha was greater than the 0.70 criterion (Table 2).⁴⁵ Therefore, the convergent validity of the measurement model was reasonable. For all constructs, the square root of the average variance extracted (AVE) was greater than the correlation coefficient between the two respective constructs (Table 3), revealing that the model had acceptable discriminant validity.⁴⁶ Moreover, appropriate model fit was discovered (χ²/df = 2.04, goodness-of-fit index [GFI] = 0.91, normed fit index [NFI] = 0.93, confirmatory fit index [CFI] = 0.96, root-mean-square error of approximation [RMSEA] = 0.05).⁴⁵ Finally, we performed Harman's one-factor test to examine the possibility of CMV. The results of this test revealed that the maximum variance that could be explained by the first factor was 46.93%, which is below the threshold of 50%.⁴⁷ Furthermore, four factors exhibited eigenvalues greater than 1. Therefore, we concluded that no significant CMV occurred in this study.

Table 2.

Reliability index.

Construct	Cronbach's α	CR	AVE
Ecological Lifestyle	0.80	0.81	0.52
Consumer Innovativeness	0.90	0.90	0.74
Government Incentive	0.82	0.83	0.56
Warm Glow	0.88	0.90	0.75
Attitude of Rooftop PV Installation	0.90	0.90	0.65
Intention of Rooftop PV Installation	0.87	0.87	0.69

AVE = average variance extracted; CR = composite reliability.

Table 3.

Correlations between constructs.

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)
Ecological Lifestyle	(0.719)
Consumer Innovativeness	0.420***	(0.860)
Government Incentive	0.360***	0.500***	(0.745)
Warm Glow	0.519***	0.566***	0.524***	(0.868)
Attitude of Rooftop PV Installation	0.493***	0.522***	0.564***	0.712***	(0.806)
Intention of Rooftop PV Installation	0.478***	0.668***	0.505***	0.676***	0.759***	(0.831)

*p＜0.05, **p＜0.01, ***p＜0.001; value in parentheses are the square root of average variance extracted.

Structural equation model

The fitness indices of the full model were acceptable (χ² /df = 2.45, GFI = 0.88, NFI = 0.90, CFI = 0.94, RMSEA = 0.06).⁴⁵ Figure 2 illustrates the model's inter-construct relationships. Ecological lifestyle was a significant positive antecedent of attitude toward residential PV system installation (coefficient = 0.11, t = 2.05); thus, H1 is supported, which is consistent with the results of previous research. In the field of marketing communication, lifestyle has been found to influence consumption habits and the processing of various forms of marketing communication.⁴⁸ People that lead an ecological lifestyle are environmentally sensitive. They choose and recycle products, participate in events that benefit the environment, and are constantly striving to develop themselves and tackle new challenges.¹³ Some studies have found that members of households that adopt solar energy on a small scale engage in ecologically conscious lifestyles.^18,23,38 An ecological lifestyle, which represents an environmentally conscious behavior, influences one's attitude toward residential solar installation.

Figure 2.

Empirical results. Note: *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001.

In this study, consumer innovativeness positively influenced attitude toward residential PV system installation (coefficient = 0.16, t = 3.19); thus, H2 is supported, which is in line with results in the literature. Because consumer innovativeness is a critical construct for examining consumer purchasing behavior for new products, marketing managers can use this construct to identify prospective new product adopters within a target category.⁴⁹ Power utilities will eventually transition to providing renewable energy to residents, and solar technology is the most readily available renewable technology.⁵⁰ Customer innovativeness plays a role in household solar adoption decisions; thus, providers and manufacturers of domestic solar power systems should collaborate closely with early adopters to develop their products’ operational economics.²⁰ Chen claimed that the intention of homeowners to install solar panels is influenced by their innovativeness.²³ Schelly (2014) discovered that early adopters of domestic solar electricity shared a common motivation for adoption: an interest in technological innovation and the pleasure of using energy system technology.^22,23

Attitude toward residential PV systems was influenced by warm glow (coefficient = 0.51, t = 8.05); thus, H3 is supported, which is consistent with the results of previous studies. Warm-glow theory indicates that people derive utility from giving. This utility takes the form of a warm glow, which is the happy emotional feeling that people experience when they assist others.²⁴ When the entire society benefits from green energy, consumers receive additional personal warm glow advantages from contributing to climate protection and energy independence.⁵¹ Some consumers are willing to pay more for green energy because of their happy feelings rather than the decision's environmental impact.⁵² Certain homes may take pride in being producers of “green” electricity, and the effect of the “warm glow” of solar energy may exceed that of discounted present value calculations in determining a household's decision to construct a solar energy system.⁴ The present study indicates that the psychological benefit of warm glow improves an individual's attitude toward installing rooftop PV systems.

Attitude toward residential PV systems was influenced by government incentive (coefficient = 0.20, t = 3.84); thus, H4 is supported, which is consistent with the results of prior research.^53,54 Solar energy is highly reliant on government support programs.¹⁴ High cost is a major barrier to residential solar system installation; thus, the cost of investment in solar technology should be reduced through substantial financial incentives.²⁸ Subsidies and incentives promote global residential solar development. Financial incentives, government-led initiatives, and cost-cutting strategies play crucial roles in the diffusion of solar energy. The residential adoption of solar technology has increased considerably in some US states because of the attractiveness of federal, state, and local financial incentives.²⁹ Tax incentives and solar subsidies have contributed to at least a portion of this rapid development.³⁰ Thus, incentive programs should be implemented to encourage residential solar installation.

As postulated in H5, the respondents’ attitude toward residential PV installation significantly affected their willingness to install a residential PV system (coefficient = 0.88, t = 15.18), consistent with prior research. Following relevant studies, we examined two aspects of the moderated mediation of our conceptual model.^55,56 First, the mediation effect was assessed using the bootstrapping method in AMOS.⁵⁷ Second, a multigroup path analysis approach was used to test the moderating effects in the hypotheses. We tested whether consumer attitudes toward residential PV installation mediated the relationships among ecological lifestyle, consumer innovativeness, warm glow, government incentives, and residential PV installation intention. An indirect effect and mediation is established when the 90% bootstrap confidence interval (CI) of the indirect effect does not include zero.⁵⁸ Therefore, we conducted bootstrapping analysis to test the significance of the indirect effects in the model, and the results are presented in Table 4. The results of this study indicated that consumer attitudes toward residential solar installation mediated the relationships between ecological lifestyle, consumer innovativeness, warm glow, government incentives, and intention to install residential solar systems. Consumers’ intention to install residential solar systems, which is the immediate antecedent to residential solar installation behavior, is a function of their attitude toward residential solar installation. Consumers use their attitude toward residential solar installation as a means to define themselves through their ecological lifestyle, consumer innovativeness, warm glow, and government-incentive-related beliefs. This finding indicates that the TPB can be applied to residential solar research. Previous research has also obtained similar findings to the aforementioned one.^59,60

Table 4.

Mediating effects.

Relationships	Standardized Indirect Effects	p value
Ecological Lifestyle → Attitude toward Residential PV Installation → Residential PV Installation Intention	0.09	0.097
Consumer Innovativeness → Attitude toward Residential PV Installation → Residential PV Installation Intention	0.15	0.01
Warm Glow → Attitude toward Residential PV Installation → Residential PV Installation Intention	0.45	0.00
Government Incentive → Attitude toward Residential PV Installation → Residential PV Installation Intention	0.18	0.01

A χ² difference test of high versus low product knowledge of residential PV systems was performed to determine any moderating effect; constrained and unconstrained models were compared. A significant difference was noted between the unconstrained and constrained models in the relationship of attitude toward and intention of a residential PV installation (χ² ₍₁₎ = 7.10, p < 0.05); the higher the product knowledge, the stronger was the link between attitude toward and intention of a residential PV installation (γ _High = 0.97 vs. γ _Low = 0.77), supporting H6. Therefore, the more knowledgeable the respondent, the stronger was the positive effect of attitude toward residential PV installation on residential PV installation intention.

Numerous studies have emphasized the importance of environmental knowledge and renewable energy. Knowledge about a technology's performance can directly or indirectly influence the adoption of an innovation by influencing an individual's perceptions of the innovation.⁶¹ Uncertainty regarding technology and consequently a rejection of technology might result from inadequate knowledge. Inadequate knowledge regarding renewable energies is one of the barriers to their promotion and development.⁶² The cost of PV systems is not the sole impediment to their widespread adoption. The lack of understanding about the costs, environmental problems, and benefits of these systems results in nonmonetary costs for potential customers.⁶³ At each stage of the decision-making process for the adoption of a residential solar system, prior knowledge regarding the system is considered.⁶⁴ The present study confirmed that consumers’ product knowledge positively moderates the effect of attitude toward residential PV system installation on intention of residential PV system installation. More knowledgeable consumers have greater confidence regarding the control and use of a residential PV system; thus, these consumers tend to test and install residential PV projects. By contrast, consumers with less product knowledge have less confidence in residential PV systems and tend to hesitate when deciding on residential PV system installation.

Conclusion and policy implications

Discussion and conclusions

Sociological investigation of environmental issues can provide considerable insights for science and society in understanding the human components of environmental concerns and ecologically responsible behavior. People make technology adoption decisions within a social framework that is molded by environmental values or economic structures, a complex mix of lifestyle choices, and perceived benefits and concerns. Motivational explanations for behaviors occur within the psychological and physical context of life experiences and policy provisions. This study explored the relationships between individual characteristics (ecological lifestyle and consumer innovativeness), physical and perceived benefits (government incentives and warm glow), attitude toward residential PV installation, and residential PV installation intention. The findings of this study contribute to our understanding of motivations for behavior by examining several different perspectives. From this investigation, two major conclusions were reached. First, this study discovered that ecological lifestyle, consumer innovativeness, government incentive, and warm glow all affect attitude toward residential PV installation. Second, this attitude influences residential PV installation intention, and consumers’ product knowledge moderates this relationship.

These conclusions have some implications for governments and residential PV system manufacturers. First, incentives from the government are crucial to increasing the number of residential solar systems.³⁰ The current study confirmed that government incentives significantly affect attitude toward residential PV installation. Beyond the government incentives, additional efforts are required to promote residential solar energy. Clear communication will be essential if the distributed renewable project is to succeed.⁶⁵ Policymakers must collaborate with consumers and the residential PV industry to promote solar policy. The government should deregulate and increase incentives and simplify applications for residential PV systems. This would reduce the associated hardship for numerous consumers and make the government's solar policy more popular, accelerating the achievement of the solar energy goal.

Second, this study found that consumer innovativeness positively affects consumers’ searches for and processing of new information, and a positive attitude toward residential PV installation is more likely among those with consumer innovativeness. Those marketing PV systems should identify and manage consumers with high innovativeness and ensure that their marketing strategies appeal to this most receptive audience.⁶⁶ Suppliers and manufacturers of solar systems should develop operational product economics by working closely with early adopters.²⁰ Therefore, companies marketing PV systems should develop marketing plans, specifically targeting early adopters to accelerate PV system adoption. One way to implement this would be through seminars, a type of marketing event in which customers with high innovativeness are offered new information; this would help in identifying potential customers for the industry.

Third, scholars have previously employed lifestyle concepts to predict and explain consumer behavior.⁶⁷ The current study discovered that ecological lifestyle positively affects attitude toward residential PV installation. Therefore, PV marketers should attempt to determine different types of consumer profiles to develop individual marketing plans, such as participation in recycling activities or the development of joint marketing energy-saving products. Using marketing activities to provide information about residential PV systems to consumers with an ecological lifestyle through this method may help target customers interested in residential PV installation.

Fourth, several studies have indicated that the warm glow is a positive emotion that individuals experience when they help others.²⁵ This is particularly true for consumers who contribute to environmental public welfare. Households with residential PV systems may pride themselves on being generators of green electricity and hence feel a warm glow.⁴ Residential PV installation may improve the currently discounted value calculations when consumers consider options for solar installation in their homes. To highlight to consumers that installing residential PV systems would give them a warm glow, residential PV marketing teams and the government should highlight the contribution of residential PV installation to emission reduction and environmental protection worldwide.

Finally, consumers’ product knowledge positively moderates the effect of attitude toward residential PV installation on the intention of residential PV installation. More knowledgeable consumers have greater confidence regarding the control and use of a residential PV system; hence, these consumers tend to test and install residential PV projects. By contrast, consumers with less product knowledge have less confidence with residential PV systems and tend to hesitate when deciding on residential PV installation.

Research limitations and suggestions for future research

To the best of our knowledge, few studies have evaluated the moderating effect of product knowledge on the relationship between residential PV installation attitudes and related intentions. This study also integrated individual characteristics, psychological and physical benefits, attitude toward and intention of a residential PV system installation in a model and examined the relationships among the constructs. The results are subject to some limitations.

First, this study used the DSI model to measure consumer innovativeness. General innovativeness is a reflection of the degree of openness of an individual and that individual's seeking out novel experiences and significantly predicts purchase intention.⁶⁸ As the information on solar power spreads, researchers can extend their research to general innovations and measure the predictors of residential PV purchase intention. Second, solar and wind energy are currently the primary renewable energy sources. This study's framework can be applied in future studies to wind power research and contribute to environmental protection. Third, although this study's findings indicate suggestions for solar system marketers and policymakers, they only reflect potential users in Taiwan. Future studies should consider detailed analyses regarding similarities and differences within the whole Asian market but proceed with caution.

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Li-Keng Cheng

Hsien-Long Huang is an assistant professor at Tatung University. He earned his PhD from Tatung University and has a keen interest in topics of green marketing. His topical focus lies on renewable business analysis and project management to support green marketing. He joined the research group in 2018 to contribute empirical results for solar PV business planning. Further research areas are in solar PV market analysis and renewable energy project management. His research has been published in a range of international journals, and he also regularly provides consulting services on a range of different topics.

Li-Keng Cheng is an assistant professor at National Taipei University of Education. He earned his PhD from National Chengchi University, and his primary research areas include marketing, consumer research, and human-computer interaction. His research has been published in a range of international journals, and he has published in Journal of Social Marketing, and Psychology & Marketing.

Appendix

Table A.1.

Mean and standard deviation of construct measurements.

Construct	Item	SFL	Mean	SD
Ecological Lifestyle	1. The current civilization is destroying nature.	0.58	4.12	0.77
	2. I separate recyclable materials from other waste.	0.70	4.39	0.71
	3. I worry about human activity consequences on the climatic change and act consistently.	0.84	4.20	0.70
	4. I prefer energy-saving products.	0.74	4.38	0.74
Consumer Innovativeness	1. If I heard that the rooftop PV installation services were available, I would be interested enough to trial it.	0.87	3.94	0.85
	2. Compared to my friends, I seek out a lot of information about rooftop PV installation services.	0.85	3.73	0.90
	3. I would purchase a new rooftop PV installation service even if in my circle of friends nobody has trialed it before.	0.86	3.72	0.91
Government Incentive	1. The incentive program provided by the government is attractive for me.	0.57	3.50	0.93
	2. Compared to the average rate NT$2.85 (below 330 kW h), now government provides a 20-year feed-in tariff to buy back electricity from rooftop PV at NT$7 kWh, which is attractive to me.	0.65	3.71	0.86
	3. I think the incentive policy for rooftop PV program will encourage people to install rooftop PV.	0.86	3.86	0.80
	4. I think the incentive policy for rooftop PV will last	0.86	3.94	0.78
Warm Glow	1. An owner of rooftop PV can feel good because they help to protect the environment.	0.91	3.96	.81
	2. With rooftop PV installation, I have the feeling of contributing to the well-being of humanity and nature.	0.91	3.91	0.82
	3. An owner of rooftop PV can feel better because they do not harm the environment.	0.78	3.69	1.04
Attitude of Rooftop PV Installation	1. I think the policy of government to promote rooftop PV is good.	0.82	3.94	0.78
	2. I think a rooftop PV is a good investment that is reliable in the long term.	0.82	3.78	0.89
	3. I think a solar energy installation would increase the value of my home.	0.75	3.63	0.88
	4. I think a rooftop PV installation will increase my prosocial and pro-environment image.	0.82	3.91	0.82
	5. I think rooftop PV installations can reduce global warming, and this is good for the environment.	0.82	4.03	0.80
Intention of Rooftop PV Installation	1. If I buy an independent house, I will install a rooftop PV.	0.79	4.20	0.80
	2. I will strongly suggest to my family or my friends that they install a rooftop PV in their independent house.	0.87	3.74	0.89
	3. To me, rooftop PV installation is worthwhile despite its long simple payback periods and high capital costs.	0.83	3.78	0.86

SFL = standardized factor loading.

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