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Personality traits and renewable energy technology adoption: A policy case study from China

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  • He, Pan
  • Veronesi, Marcella

Abstract

This paper examines the role played by personality traits on the adoption decision of renewable energy technologies. As a case study, we examine a policy for biogas technology adoption in rural China, and implement a large in-person farm-household survey. We find that farmers with a higher level of openness to experience are more likely to adopt the biogas technology. In contrast, farmers with a lower level of confidence in influencing outcomes they experience are less likely to adopt the biogas technology. In addition, we find that openness seems to affect adoption through the perceived ease of use of the technology. Our findings indicate that including personality traits into adoption models of renewable energy technologies can give us a better understanding of individual differences in the adoption decision, and highlight the importance of energy policies that aim to improve the perception of the ease of use of these technologies.

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  • He, Pan & Veronesi, Marcella, 2017. "Personality traits and renewable energy technology adoption: A policy case study from China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 472-479.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:107:y:2017:i:c:p:472-479
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2017.05.017
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    1. Zeng, Yangmei & Zhang, Junbiao & He, Ke, 2019. "Effects of conformity tendencies on households’ willingness to adopt energy utilization of crop straw: Evidence from biogas in rural China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 573-584.
    2. Chowdhury, Shyamal & Satish, Varun & Sulaiman, Munshi & Sun, Yi, 2022. "Sooner rather than later: Social networks and technology adoption," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 466-482.
    3. Qian-Cheng Wang & Yi-Xuan Wang & Izzy Yi Jian & Hsi-Hsien Wei & Xuan Liu & Yao-Tian Ma, 2020. "Exploring the “Energy-Saving Personality Traits” in the Office and Household Situation: An Empirical Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-17, July.
    4. Linda Ferrari, 2022. "Farmers' attitude toward CRISPR/Cas9: The case of blast resistant rice," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(1), pages 175-194, January.
    5. Shalini Srivastava & Nidhi Singh, 2023. "An integrated model predicting customers’ continuance behavioral intention and recommendations of users: a study on mobile payment in emerging markets," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(2), pages 236-254, June.
    6. Chowdhury, Shyamal & Satish, Varun & Sulaiman, Munshi & Sun, Yi, 2021. "Sooner Rather Than Later: Social Networks and Technology Adoption," IZA Discussion Papers 14307, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. He, Pan & Lovo, Stefania & Veronesi, Marcella, 2022. "Social networks and renewable energy technology adoption: Empirical evidence from biogas adoption in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    8. McLeay, Fraser & Olya, Hossein & Liu, Hongfei & Jayawardhena, Chanaka & Dennis, Charles, 2022. "A multi-analytical approach to studying customers motivations to use innovative totally autonomous vehicles," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    9. Qian, Chen & Li, Fan & Antonides, Gerrit & Heerink, Nico & Ma, Xianlei & Li, Xiande, 2020. "Effect of personality traits on smallholders’ land renting behavior: Theory and evidence from the North China Plain," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    10. Agarwal, Richa & Bhadauria, Artee & Kaushik, Hans & Swami, Sanjeev & Rajwanshi, Rohit, 2023. "ISM-MICMAC-based study on key enablers in the adoption of solar renewable energy products in India," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    11. Jabeen, Gul & Ahmad, Munir & Zhang, Qingyu, 2021. "Perceived critical factors affecting consumers’ intention to purchase renewable generation technologies: Rural-urban heterogeneity," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    12. Lin, Boqiang & Okyere, Michael Adu, 2022. "Are people energy poor because of their prosocial behavior? Evidence from Ghana," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PE).
    13. Spandagos, Constantine & Baark, Erik & Ng, Tze Ling & Yarime, Masaru, 2021. "Social influence and economic intervention policies to save energy at home: Critical questions for the new decade and evidence from air-condition use," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    14. Jinxing Wang & Wanming Li & Shamsheer ul Haq & Pomi Shahbaz, 2023. "Adoption of Renewable Energy Technology on Farms for Sustainable and Efficient Production: Exploring the Role of Entrepreneurial Orientation, Farmer Perception and Government Policies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-20, March.
    15. Tan, Xueping & Wang, Xinyu & Zaidi, Syed Haider Ali, 2019. "What drives public willingness to participate in the voluntary personal carbon-trading scheme? A case study of Guangzhou Pilot, China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 1-1.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Q54; Q55; Q57; Personality traits; Technology adoption; Renewable energy policy; Locus of control; Biogas; China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • Q55 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Technological Innovation
    • Q57 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Ecological Economics

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