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Contributions towards closing the intention-behavior gap in residential low-carbon technology adoption decisions

Against the background of an aspired zero emission economy, residential decision making concerning low-carbon technologies (LCTs) has been researched widely to develop appropriate policy measures to foster adoption levels, however, adoption levels remain unexpectedly low. First, prevalent knowledge gaps are caused by the lacking accumulation of knowledge in the research domain, and second, the lacking common understanding of the decision process itself. Third, previous research has not sufficiently accounted for heterogeneity in the population, instead assuming similar drivers and barriers for adoption across consumer segments. Based on an extended Theory of Planned Behavior and previous research findings, a holistic decision framework for residential decision-making concerning LCTs is proposed in this doctoral thesis. A reduced framework could be confirmed for the example technology rooftop PV with a high-quality sample (n=1,800) using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling. It could be shown, that adoption intention and strength and influence of predictors vary across consumer segments, even between segments with the same broad social status and/or comparable values. Matching survey data with real-world data revealed, that stated adoption intentions of consumer segments are consistent with adoption behavior in Saxonian zip-codes only for two of five consumer segments. Moreover, it could be demonstrated that common variables used to explain adoption intentions (environmental concern and novelty seeking) are not related with adoption levels in Saxonian zip-codes. Similarly, common variables to explain adoption levels in zip-codes (city-type, share of (semi-) detached houses, population density, previous PV installations) are not related with adoption intentions among consumer segments. These results show that taking consumer heterogeneity into account is crucial to understanding drivers and barriers of residential adoption decisions, and that variables relating to intentions and actual behavior are not necessarily equivalent, providing initial insights into why political measures might not have been sufficiently successful yet.:Abstract iii
Zusammenfassung v
Publications ix
Acknowledgments xi
1 Introductory Remarks 1
2 Residential low-carbon technology decision-making 23
3 Residential PV adoption intention 37
4 The decision towards a residential PV system 63
5 Heterogeneity in PV adoption intentions across consumer segments 83
6 Spatial and household characteristics relating to PV saturation 103
7 Spatial and household characteristics relating to PV adoption intention 121
Statement of Contribution xv
Curriculum Vitae xvii
Declaration of Authorship xix
Bibliographic Description xxi

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:92817
Date29 July 2024
CreatorsVogt, Emily Christine
ContributorsUniversität Leipzig
Source SetsHochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion, doc-type:doctoralThesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis, doc-type:Text
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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