Factors influencing the adoption of Green Technology by individual consumers in South Africa
| dc.contributor.author | Jainarain, Rowenta | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-08-30T07:00:32Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-08-30T07:00:32Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2023 | |
| dc.description | A research article submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration Johannesburg, 2023 | |
| dc.description.abstract | The effects of climate change are becoming more evident, across the world. It is imperative that humans act as a collective and start immediately, to change their modes and means of operating activities that add to greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. The United Nations (UN) developed the 17 Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs), to be achieved by the year 2030, with SDG 13, Climate Action, being one of them. Apart from companies and industries adding to greenhouse gas emissions, a substantial amount of greenhouse gases are directly and indirectly attributed to the individual consumers’ activity. SDG 17 then comes into play, being, “Partnerships for goals”, whereby this study focuses on the part that individual consumers’ have in the case against climate change. Consumers use electricity in their everyday lives and electricity generation is usually from fossil fuel powered stations, which significantly contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. An alternative would be for consumers, to adopt green technology, in the form of renewable energy, such as solar panels and solar water heaters. This study took a quantitative approach, to assess the factors that influence the adoption of green technology in South Africa. Primary data was collected from 102 respondents via a survey questionnaire, with 87 valid responses after data cleaning. Factor analysis was employed to ascertain the factors that influenced adoption. Multiple regression was used to test the hypotheses developed from the literature survey as well as to determine which factor influenced adoption most. The theory of planned behaviour was the model and framework against which, intention to adopt green technology was tested. The literature survey study found that awareness, self efficacy, ease of access, belief of benefits, cost perception, risk perception, environmental concern, aesthetics and social norms have an impact on intention to adopt. The regression analysis in the study found that awareness, belief of benefits and cost perception had an influence on the intention to adopt green technology and that awareness was the most influential factor. There is very little literature on factors that influence adoption in the South African context, hence this study aims to fill that gap and assist governments, sustainable development organisations and societies, with practical recommendations to influence vi the uptake of green technology in the form of renewable energy in South Africa as well as recommendations for future research | |
| dc.description.submitter | MM2024 | |
| dc.faculty | Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10539/40405 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg | |
| dc.rights | © 2023 University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. | |
| dc.school | WITS Business School | |
| dc.subject | Climate change | |
| dc.subject | UCTD | |
| dc.subject | Greenhouse gases | |
| dc.subject | Individual consumer | |
| dc.subject | Renewable energy | |
| dc.subject | Green technology | |
| dc.subject | Theory of planned behaviour | |
| dc.subject | Solar panels, solar energy | |
| dc.subject.other | SDG-7: Affordable and clean energy | |
| dc.subject.other | SDG-17: Partnerships for the goals | |
| dc.subject.other | SDG-13: Climate action | |
| dc.title | Factors influencing the adoption of Green Technology by individual consumers in South Africa | |
| dc.type | Dissertation |