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The diffusion of electric cars can contribute to more sustainability in the transport sector, but diffusion rates in most countries are still low. We investigated motives for electric car adoption in German households from an environmental psychology perspective. The public debate focuses on rational aspects such as the purchase price or new technological demands (e.g., limited range and a new charging system). Psychological research on energy-related investment decisions in households confirms the relevance of rational motives, but additionally points to the importance of norm-directed motives (moral and social norms). We investigated the relevance of different motives in an online questionnaire with n = 220 members of German households interested in buying a new car. The questionnaire included possible rational and norm-related predictors of electric car adoption. We tested three action models to explain adoption intention: An adjusted technology acceptance model (TAM), an adjusted norm activation model (NAM), and an integrative model with predictors from both models. We analyzed the hypothesized models with path analyses. All models explained a substantial share of variance in adoption intention. The explained share of variance in the NAM was higher than in the TAM and comparably high to the integrative model. The results demonstrate the important role of moral and social motives for households’ investment decisions. Additionally, the technology’s perceived usefulness was an important rational motive. We discuss the context dependency of the results, as household members might have little knowledge about the new technology during the early stages of a technology’s diffusion process. The results strongly suggest broadening political support schemes, such as informational and image campaigns, as a way to more effectively foster electric car diffusion. More comprehensive assessments appear to be necessary in future analyses of electric car adoption as well as energy-related investment decisions.
Sebastian Bobeth; Ingo Kastner. Buying an electric car: A rational choice or a norm-directed behavior? Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour 2020, 73, 236 -258.
AMA StyleSebastian Bobeth, Ingo Kastner. Buying an electric car: A rational choice or a norm-directed behavior? Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour. 2020; 73 ():236-258.
Chicago/Turabian StyleSebastian Bobeth; Ingo Kastner. 2020. "Buying an electric car: A rational choice or a norm-directed behavior?" Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour 73, no. : 236-258.
Investment determinants on residential photovoltaic (PV) in Germany were measured via questionnaire. The survey covered social influences in terms of injunctive and descriptive norms, and economic, ecological and autarkic motives for the investment. Descriptive norms were more relevant for the investment decisions than injunctive norms, but both were considerably less important than all of the other three investment motives. Additionally, we observed the actual distribution of PV systems in the participants’ living area; we gathered the observation data on PV distribution from governmental databases. We found survey data on descriptive and objective norms and observation data to be unrelated. These findings indicate that multiple approaches are necessary to assess the relevance of social influences reliably.
Ingo Kastner; Inga Wittenberg. How Measurements “Affect” the Importance of Social Influences on Household’s Photovoltaic Adoption—A German Case Study. Sustainability 2019, 11, 5175 .
AMA StyleIngo Kastner, Inga Wittenberg. How Measurements “Affect” the Importance of Social Influences on Household’s Photovoltaic Adoption—A German Case Study. Sustainability. 2019; 11 (19):5175.
Chicago/Turabian StyleIngo Kastner; Inga Wittenberg. 2019. "How Measurements “Affect” the Importance of Social Influences on Household’s Photovoltaic Adoption—A German Case Study." Sustainability 11, no. 19: 5175.
Ingo Kastner; Sebastian Bobeth. Corrigendum to “How Households Adopt Sustainable Innovations? A Free Decision Enforced by Others”. Journal of Energy 2018, 2018, 1 -1.
AMA StyleIngo Kastner, Sebastian Bobeth. Corrigendum to “How Households Adopt Sustainable Innovations? A Free Decision Enforced by Others”. Journal of Energy. 2018; 2018 ():1-1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleIngo Kastner; Sebastian Bobeth. 2018. "Corrigendum to “How Households Adopt Sustainable Innovations? A Free Decision Enforced by Others”." Journal of Energy 2018, no. : 1-1.
Stefan Vögele; Ellen Matthies; Ingo Kastner; Jens Buchgeister; Max Kleemann; Dörte Ohlhorst; Michael Nast. Reduktion des gebäuderelevanten Energiebedarfs als Herausforderung für die Energiewende. Sechs Thesen zu unterschätzten Barrieren und Potenzialen. Die Energiewende verstehen - orientieren - gestalten 2017, 513 -530.
AMA StyleStefan Vögele, Ellen Matthies, Ingo Kastner, Jens Buchgeister, Max Kleemann, Dörte Ohlhorst, Michael Nast. Reduktion des gebäuderelevanten Energiebedarfs als Herausforderung für die Energiewende. Sechs Thesen zu unterschätzten Barrieren und Potenzialen. Die Energiewende verstehen - orientieren - gestalten. 2017; ():513-530.
Chicago/Turabian StyleStefan Vögele; Ellen Matthies; Ingo Kastner; Jens Buchgeister; Max Kleemann; Dörte Ohlhorst; Michael Nast. 2017. "Reduktion des gebäuderelevanten Energiebedarfs als Herausforderung für die Energiewende. Sechs Thesen zu unterschätzten Barrieren und Potenzialen." Die Energiewende verstehen - orientieren - gestalten , no. : 513-530.
Ingo Kastner; Ellen Matthies. Corrigendum to “Investments in renewable energies by German households: A matter of economics, social influences and ecological concern?” [Energy Res. Soc. Sci. 17 (2016) 1–9]. Energy Research & Social Science 2016, 19, 200 .
AMA StyleIngo Kastner, Ellen Matthies. Corrigendum to “Investments in renewable energies by German households: A matter of economics, social influences and ecological concern?” [Energy Res. Soc. Sci. 17 (2016) 1–9]. Energy Research & Social Science. 2016; 19 ():200.
Chicago/Turabian StyleIngo Kastner; Ellen Matthies. 2016. "Corrigendum to “Investments in renewable energies by German households: A matter of economics, social influences and ecological concern?” [Energy Res. Soc. Sci. 17 (2016) 1–9]." Energy Research & Social Science 19, no. : 200.
We analyzed how internal factors (e.g., value orientations or attitudes) and external factors (e.g., incentives or social influences) affect households’ decisions to make an investment in solar thermal energy, and how these factors interact in the decision process. 232 German home owners were questioned using an online survey. Internal factors were measured in the form of value orientations. The influence of external factors was measured in a discrete choice experiment, which covered economic consequences, social influences and ecologic consequences. The data was analyzed using mixed logit models. We found decision makers with strong eco-social value orientations to be more likely to make an investment while strong conservative and strong hedonistic value orientations both reduced investment likelihood. Among the external factors, economic consequences and investment recommendations by trustworthy sources were found highly important. Ultimately, we found several interactions between value orientations and external factors: decision makers with strong conservative or strong hedonistic value orientations are more sensitive towards economic consequences; decision makers with strong eco-social value orientations, however, are more sensitive towards recommendations and ecological consequences of an investment. Our results propose that strategies fostering households’ investments in renewable energies should be appropriately adjusted for different groups of decision makers.
Ingo Kastner; Ellen Matthies. Investments in renewable energies by German households: A matter of economics, social influences and ecological concern? Energy Research & Social Science 2016, 17, 1 -9.
AMA StyleIngo Kastner, Ellen Matthies. Investments in renewable energies by German households: A matter of economics, social influences and ecological concern? Energy Research & Social Science. 2016; 17 ():1-9.
Chicago/Turabian StyleIngo Kastner; Ellen Matthies. 2016. "Investments in renewable energies by German households: A matter of economics, social influences and ecological concern?" Energy Research & Social Science 17, no. : 1-9.
Measures designed to foster individual sustainable consumption should target high-impact behaviors (impact perspective) and include strategies that promote people's general motivation to contribute to sustainable development (intent perspective). In doing so, long-term behavioral changes and positive spillover effects may be achieved and negative spillover may be alleviated. Taking into account this twofold perspective on sustainable consumption, we designed an intervention program for the promotion of sustainable consumption in terms of energy efficiency at the workplace. The program evaluation covered impact-related indicators in terms of metered energy consumption data, and intent-related indicators in terms of a scale referring to the general motivation to save energy at the workplace. The intervention program showed positive outcomes for both kinds of indicators while the relationships between the indicators were moderate only.
Ingo Kastner; Ellen Matthies. Motivation and Impact. Implications of a Twofold Perspective on Sustainable Consumption for Intervention Programs and Evaluation Designs. GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society 2014, 23, 175 -183.
AMA StyleIngo Kastner, Ellen Matthies. Motivation and Impact. Implications of a Twofold Perspective on Sustainable Consumption for Intervention Programs and Evaluation Designs. GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society. 2014; 23 (3):175-183.
Chicago/Turabian StyleIngo Kastner; Ellen Matthies. 2014. "Motivation and Impact. Implications of a Twofold Perspective on Sustainable Consumption for Intervention Programs and Evaluation Designs." GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society 23, no. 3: 175-183.
Ingo Kastner; Ellen Matthies. Implementing web-based interventions to promote energy efficient behavior at organizations – a multi-level challenge. Journal of Cleaner Production 2014, 62, 89 -97.
AMA StyleIngo Kastner, Ellen Matthies. Implementing web-based interventions to promote energy efficient behavior at organizations – a multi-level challenge. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2014; 62 ():89-97.
Chicago/Turabian StyleIngo Kastner; Ellen Matthies. 2014. "Implementing web-based interventions to promote energy efficient behavior at organizations – a multi-level challenge." Journal of Cleaner Production 62, no. : 89-97.