Search results

This study aims to consider a five-factor model to evaluate the service quality of solar product companies in the context of rural Punjab (India) and validate the proposed model. In addition, the study considered the factors which affect the service quality of solar product companies.

A five-factor model of service quality has been tested for reliability and validity by confirmatory factor analysis. For determining satisfaction of the solar product users, SERVQUAL model/gap analysis has been applied. Five dimensions, namely tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy have been considered to assess the overall satisfaction level. A modified scale of Parasuraman incorporated in 1985 has been used as a survey instrument for research. A sample size of 345 solar submersible pump users was selected.

The study concluded that dimensions such as reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy have lesser gap. The major gap has been found in the tangibility dimension which includes variables like modern design of solar energy products, facilities and attractiveness, variety of solar products and performance of solar products, etc.

As primary data are concerned, the biasness of the respondents may affect the results of the study. The survey has been conducted in the Punjab region, and a sample size is 345 only which may not reflect the broader picture.

Solar energy has huge benefits in the Indian agriculture sector. The erratic state of power supply in India casts important costs on agriculture productivity. One such segment concerns systems, an important input for agriculture production. The study has implications for solar energy product manufacturers, as it makes them aware about customer perception toward services of solar product companies.

To decrease pollution and to save the environment, solar energy technologies have a good potential energy source and to meet the global energy demand, as it is the most promising and reliable energy source.

The existing studies in the context of service quality of solar product companies in Punjab have been majorly confined to proposing key drivers toward adoption of renewable energy sources. By providing an insight into the satisfaction level of farmers for solar submersible pumps, the proposed study attempts to fill the gap. As the study relates to solar product users in rural Punjab, the findings will be of additional value to solar product companies which are manufacturing solar products. Therefore, it is expected that this research will fill the gap in literature by studying empirically the service quality of solar product companies.

The purpose of this paper is to locate determinants of the diffusion process of solar energy and examine the relationship between variables affecting diffusion and adoption solar of energy.

The data used in this research have been collected from users and non-users of solar energy products in Punjab. A research model was used to test for factors of diffusion and intention to use solar energy products.

The survey results show that the majority of solar product users are aware of the difference between renewable and non-renewable sources of energy. Roger’s diffusion model containing five components, relative advantage, trialability, observability, complexity and compatibility, shows that relative advantage and trialability significantly influence user’s intention to use solar products. In order to increase adoption and usage of solar energy products, more consideration is required toward raising the reliability and utility of solar products. Demos and trials highly convince users toward solar products. Hence sellers of solar products should give effective trials to increase acceptance of solar products.

This work provides a clear focus which will allow the diffusion and adoption of solar energy product by providing guidance and aspiration as well as providing platform to solar energy manufacture and government for policy making and future decision.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors influencing farmers’ intention to purchase solar water pumping systems (SWPS).

The research is based on primary data that have been collected from a total of 345 solar pump users from different villages and rural areas of Punjab (India). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and multiple regression analysis have been used to examine the collected data. Multiple regression analysis is used to examine the identified dimensions’ impact on customer buying behaviour.

The results of analysis validated that consumer buying behaviour is significantly determined by cost, performance and government initiatives dimensions. However, dimensions such as eco-friendly product, information regarding product and company, environmental concern and social influence were found insignificant.

The sample size has been selected on the basis of convenience sampling and sample has been taken from the rural area. Therefore, the result may not be representative of the overall population. The perception of respondents from one part may vary from another part of India.

By providing an insight into factors affecting consumer buying behaviour of SWPS, the proposed research attempts to fill the gaps in literature by conducting an empirical study on consumer buying behaviour. As the study relates to SWPS users, findings will be of additional value to solar product companies and the government.

This study aims to conduct the domain mapping of consumer behaviour research in the context of solar energy. The study can help in understanding the intellectual structure, evolution of keywords and key research producers (at the author, institutional and source level) related to the domain of solar energy consumer research.

This study uses R-studios’ bibliometrix package for analysing the bibliographical data collected from the Scopus database. Analysis has been conducted at the descriptive level (summary, author, institution and source) and analytical level (co-citation analysis, co-occurrence analysis, thematic maps and historiography).

This study finds out the most relevant authors, institutions and sources using criteria such as production, citations and H-index. Relevant research clusters have been identified using the clustering of authors, co-citations and keywords. Thematic mapping has identified the basic and motor themes. Historical citation analysis shows the direct linkage of previous studies. Overall, this study reports the most relevant bibliometric indicators in the domain of solar energy consumer research.

Identified patterns can help policymakers, business experts, social marketers and energy conservation organisations to study consumer behaviour.

Thiis bibliometric study can effectively assess sustainable development goals and suggest improved action plans.

This study examined bibliometric analysis in solar energy products (SEPs), recognised varied domains of research work on consumers’ intention to purchase solar household products and mapped them into six groups. This study provides an overview of 40 years of research on consumer behaviour towards SEPs and discusses its findings to identify the research gap.

This study aims to examine the farmers’ awareness level and explores the factors, which may influence their adoption intention regarding solar powered pumps.

The study consist of a sample of 510 respondents selected from the rural region of Punjab (India) by using convenience sampling. Descriptive analysis, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and multiple regression analysis techniques have been used for the analytical purpose.

The study reveals that dimensions such as perceived benefit, perceived compatibility and government incentives have a significant impact on intention to use solar powered pumps, whereas high investment cost and lack of awareness regarding government subsidies are the main reason for non-adoption of the same.

The sample size has been selected on the basis of convenience sampling and has been taken from the rural area, which may affect its generalizability.

The present research is expected to be useful for the manufacturers, regulators, customers, commercial banks, product and service providers, and other environmental institutions.

The study has acknowledged various intentional factors, which influence the adoption decision of solar powered pumps. Therefore, the present study will be useful to formulate action plans to improve the environmental quality.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors influencing consumers’ intention to purchase solar energy products (SEPs).

The research is based on primary data that has been collected from a total of 351 non-users of SEPs from different cities of Tamil Nadu state (India). Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling have been used to examine the collected data.

Attitude, perceived behavioral control and energy concern variables are significant towards consumers’ purchase intention. However, other variables such as subjective norms and energy awareness were found insignificant.

The sample size was chosen based on convenience sampling, and the sample was collected from the different cities in Tamil Nadu. As a result, the outcome may not be representative of the whole population. Respondents’ perspectives in one section of India may differ from those in another.

The findings of this study help policymakers, business experts, marketers, social marketers and energy conservation organizations in gaining a better understanding of consumer behavior.

The outcome of this study will be effective in developing action plans to improve environmental quality through solar products.

This study has targeted the potential consumers and identified factors that are influencing consumers’ intention to purchase SEP. Therefore, the study’s findings will add value to SEP companies, government and non-government organizations, marketers, academicians and the research community.

MBA/MS level programs.

Social entrepreneurship, sustainability and business strategy.

The case discusses about how social entrepreneur Katerina Kimmorley founded Pollinate Energy with five of her friends to provide solar lights to the urban slum dwellers in Bengaluru, the capital city of Karnataka, a state in the Southern part of India. The company recruited people known as “Pollinators” for distributing their solar lights to the communities on installments making it affordable to them. To scale-up its sustainable energy initiatives and expand its global reach, Pollinate Energy merged with the US-based solar energy company Empower Generation in 2018 to form Pollinate Group. Since the company was making losses and was a nonprofit organization, the new CEO of Pollinate Group Sujatha Ramani and the senior management team had to tackle the challenge of scaling up the company while financially empowering women microentrepreneurs from marginalized communities.

Study Pollinate Energy’s business model and explore ways in which it can be made sustainable. Discuss the personality traits of Kimmorley which contributed to her success. Discuss how the merger with Empower Generation will help Pollinate Group in expanding its global reach. Explore ways in which the venture can be scaled up further.

Pollinate Group focused on women empowerment to tackle the gender inequality challenge. The company provided equal opportunities for men and women, thereby removing discrimination from access to opportunities, sources, services and promotion of equal rights.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship

The underlying research is an attempt to discover the factors responsible for influencing customer purchase intention towards solar water heaters.

Six 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.

The 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”.

Due 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.

The 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.

Considerably, 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.

Adoption of solar energy plays an important role in the growth of a country. There are many factors which influence the adoption of solar energy in India. The study is designed to identify factors that determine the acceptance or rejection of solar energy systems in India.

Relationship among identified variables is established through interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and thus a conceptually validated model is evolved. Further, MICMAC analysis is conducted to understand the driving power and dependence of these variables.

It is revealed that experience and habit, awareness and social influence are the intermediary variables. MICMAC Analysis shows that no variable is disconnected from the system and all the variables influence the adoption of solar energy in India.

The present study is expected to be useful to decision makers, end users and research organisations related to solar energy adoption.

Various intentional factors influencing solar energy systems adoption have been acknowledged in the present study, thus making it useful for formulation of action plans and enhance the usage of solar energy systems to improve environment quality.

This study aims to examine factors influencing purchase intentions of households toward solar rooftops, using diffusion of innovation theory.

Six dimensions from the diffusion of innovation theory have been contemplated to assess households’ purchase intentions toward solar rooftops. Primary data was collected from 863 respondents by using a purposive sampling technique from different parts of India. The study used structural equation modeling analysis to examine the data.

Results confirmed that the dimensions, namely, relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, innovations and observability, positively influence households’ purchase intentions of solar rooftops, except for the trialability dimension.

Data for the study is based on a purposive sampling technique that restricts the representation of the whole population. There may be variance in public perception from place to place due to demographic and psychographic differences.

The present study would facilitate devising a roadmap to improve the quality of the environment. Policy planners, researchers and professionals would find the implications of this study helpful in developing critical strategies.

The research practically explores households’ intention to purchase solar rooftops by filling the gap in previous literature. Findings of the study can equip firms with several advantages. Through the present study, one gets to know that developed and developing economies have similar energy usage issues. Further, it empirically examines the applicability of diffusion of innovation theory in the solar rooftops context.