Abstract
Demand response programs aim to increase flexibility in electricity consumption. Yet, their success hinges on a sufficient level of consumer participation, which makes it important to understand the factors that motivate participation. Though it is often assumed that consumers participate in demand response programs for the potential financial benefits, these programs can also generate collective environmental benefits, such as an increase in the share of renewable energy. Consequently, we studied potential motivations that underlie individuals’ participation in demand response programs (indicated by their acceptance, interest, and intention to participate). By examining the role of specific beliefs about costs and benefits and the role of general personal motivations (i.e., financial, environmental, and innovation-seeking) for individuals’ participation in quota schemes (a novel type of incentive-based demand response), we found that both financial and environmental beliefs underlie participation. Moreover, compared to a personal financial motivation, a personal environmental motivation (and, to a lesser extent, an innovation-seeking motivation) was both more strongly related to participation and better able to explain favorable beliefs about participation. Furthermore, we experimentally manipulated different benefits and modes of participation (through frame manipulation) and found that emphasizing the environmental benefits of participation leads to stronger acceptance and interest in participating among those strongly motivated by the environment. Conversely, this tailoring effect does not exist among those strongly financially motivated when the financial benefits are emphasized. Additionally, participation was generally higher when participation was described as voluntary compared to mandatory. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications arising from these findings.
Highlights
Mitigating the adverse effects of climate change requires a rapid transition towards a more sustainable energy system [1]
We propose that appeals emphasizing the financial benefits of participating in a demand response program should be more effective among individuals who are personally strongly motivated to achieve these benefits and appeals emphasizing environmental benefits should be more effective among those with a strong environmental self-identity
We find some evidence that the perception of personal benefits is important for motivating participation, emphasizing financial benefits via written advertisements does not seem to be superior compared to emphasizing other benefits of participation, even among those strongly motivated for financial benefits
Summary
Mitigating the adverse effects of climate change requires a rapid transition towards a more sustainable energy system [1] This need is being met by an increasing share of renewable energy sources and by increasing electrification in areas such as mobility and heating on the demand side. These developments pose new challenges for electric grids due to the growing fluctuation of electricity generation on the supply side (e.g., due to weather conditions) and the growing demand due to new electricity-intensive appliances (e.g., electric vehicles and heat pumps). As demand response programs typically aim to change consumers’ energy consumption via financial incentives, their common assumption is that informed consumers make an economically rational decision to partic ipate in demand response programs that generate financial benefits [7,8]. In a recent review, Parrish and colleagues [3] identified both financial and environmental benefits as underlying participation in de mand response programs but their findings point to the need for more research on the role of environmental motivations next to financial ones
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