A structural equation modeling analysis of factors driving customer purchase intention towards solar water heater

Abstract

PurposeThe underlying research is an attempt to discover the factors responsible for influencing customer purchase intention towards solar water heaters.Design/methodology/approachSix dimensions have been considered to assess customer purchase intention towards a solar water heater. The primary data involves the responses collected from 695 respondents belonging to the north region of India using a convenience sampling technique. Structural equation modeling analysis has been employed to examine the dimensions' impact on customer purchase intention.FindingsThe results concluded that dimensions such as increasing energy prices, product knowledge and experience, financial support and subsidies, perceived cost, have a positive influence on customers' purchase intention of solar water heater except for the dimension of “solar water heater aesthetics”.Research limitations/implicationsDue to the limited sample size, findings cannot be generalized for the large-scale population. Moreover, this study is only confined to the assessment of particular factors that are affecting the purchase intention of customers confined to solar water heaters only.Practical implicationsThe present study will provide an advantage to organizations that are in the process of implementing solar energy products into working. Moreover, this research will also assist policymakers regarding the formulation of policies on solar energy products. An undue advantage of this would be the increasing adoption of a solar water heater by understanding the factors that impact customer purchase intention.Originality/valueConsiderably, this research, by filling up the gap in the existing studies, will empirically contribute to the customer purchase intention towards SWHs. Additionally, the results of the study will also endow an additive advantage to the existing firms.

Barriers for implementing solar energy initiatives in Nigeria: an empirical study

“…Despite many efforts and the benefits that can be accrued from the use of solar energy (see Table 1) the adoption is still very low. The work done by Kar, et al, (2016), Shukla, et al (2018 and Kumar, et al, (2020) in the context of India for the implementing solar energy initiatives noted that product knowledge, financial support and subsidies, have an influence on customers' purchase intention of solar products. Financial aspects such as: lack of access to capital, credit to consumers and relevant financial instrument for the implementation of solar initiatives were noted as barriers.…”

Residential Solar Water Heater Adoption Behaviour: A Review of Economic and Technical Predictors and Their Correlation with the Adoption Decision

“…They were significantly connected to the adoption of SWHs. Although 'perceived appearance', 'structural damage of SWHs', and 'equipment and storage space' were negatively associated [23,58,63,66,69,70], 'perceived efficiency', 'perceived quality', and 'perceived system life' had absolute positive relationships [54,56,71] with system adoption. Perceived technology votes were significantly negative in more than 60% of measurements.…”

“…Perceived costs in the form of 'installation costs' and 'upfront costs' were significantly negatively correlated with adoption at 100%, whereas actual costs and the price of the system had a negative association in more than 83% of related studies. Kumar et al stated that 'perceived cost' positively influenced customers' purchase intention to buy an SWH, and their positive correlation was confirmed by collecting data from 695 respondents in North India [66]. However, other studies that reviewed cost predictors found a negative correlation with adoption behaviour.…”

“…These prevailing predictors were generally adopted in the empirical research to evaluate technical knowledge levels. Eight factors in this category were used in 35 studies and identified 62 times, with 'awareness of SWHs' indicated 21 times as the leading predictor [66,67].…”

Impact of Consumer Preference on the Decision-Making of Prefabricated Building Developers

“…Koklic and Vida (2011) developed a conceptual model of consumer strategic decision making and explored this model with regard to prefabricated house purchases. Kumar et al (2020) employed the structural equation modeling to discover the factors influencing customer purchase intention towards solar water heaters. Factors such as assembly rate, product quality, safety, price, and energy efficiency will play an increasingly important role in influencing consumers' purchasing behavior.…”