Modeling behavioral factors influencing farmers' willingness to adopt rooftop solar photovoltaic: Empirical evidence from rural China

Abstract

Rooftop photovoltaic technology represents a sustainable and ecologically sound approach, capable of optimizing solar energy utilization, thereby addressing various concerns including carbon emissions reduction and environmental preservation. Although the government is encouraging and supporting farmers to install rooftop photovoltaic systems, their inclination to adopt the technology is low. To assist policymakers in developing effective behavioral intervention measures, this study aims to enhance the framework of the theory of planned behavior by incorporating three new factors: farmers' own power, authority power, and face consciousness. This will enable better exploration of new areas and improve the theory's applicability. Using structural equation modeling and data from 1243 farmer questionnaires from eight Chinese provinces, an empirical study of the factors influencing the willingness to implement rooftop photovoltaic is conducted in rural China. The results show that farmers' own power (β = 0.543) is the key driver of farmers' adoption of rooftop photovoltaic technology, followed by authority power (β = 0.322) and PV cognition (β = 0.271). Face consciousness (β = 0.184) and environmental concerns (β = 0.130) have less impact on farmers' willingness to adopt rooftop photovoltaic. This study offers a novel perspective on rural renewable energy adoption behavior and provides policymakers with theoretical support and empirical evidence for designing programs to promote renewable energy technologies.