Abstract
Renewable energy technology (RET) can help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing economies to both meet the need for a stable energy supply and contribute to the fight against climate change. In Senegal, SMEs have the opportunity through RET to become electricity prosumers. Whether it works as such in Senegalese SMEs is one of the questions we were able to address through qualitative interviews with 23 SMEs and 13 experts. Using qualitative content analysis, we examined what factors promote the adoption of RET by these SMEs. We also examined how well the established Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model (UTAUT2) can serve as a guiding framework for this type of investigation. We find that effort expectancy is generally underestimated. Performance expectancy, when high, may influence the adoption process positively, while social influence does not seem to play a role. Both SMEs and experts point to customer service and government support for SMEs adopting RET as important facilitating conditions. The cost of RET is another factor influencing the adoption of these technologies. However, we regard the UTAUT2 as only partially helpful for the Senegalese context, due to the informal sector economy in Senegal. This leads us to add the factors knowledge, communication channels and entrepreneurial orientation. Moreover, we question the unequivocally positive notion of prosumerism for African contexts, as the idea draws its motivating power from a Western mindset.
Highlights
To analyze the data from our study, we reviewed existing models and theories on technology acceptance and decided to use the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) as our theoretical framework because it offered the best fit to our research questions
Communication channels and facilitating conditions are central for the adoption of Renewable energies (RE) technologies in
We find that they have little information about the energy contract options offered by Senelec (Société Nationale d’Electricité du Sénégal), the stateowned national electricity utility; which has a monopoly for transmission and distribution)
Summary
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) around the world play a significant role in the development of national economies. In Senegal, 95 percent of all enterprises are SMEs. In Senegal, 95 percent of all enterprises are SMEs They account for 20 percent of the GDP, around 30 percent of domestic valued added and about 40 percent of all employees [1]. In other economies in Africa and in the Global South generally, SMEs play an important role: 90 percent of the enterprises in the private sector of the Global South are SMEs [2]. The prominence of SMEs has led to increasing research into entrepreneurship, considered one of the most promising approaches to economic development and poverty reduction in Africa [3,4]
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