Primary Outcomes (end points)
We plan to analyze the number of adoptions, as well as the number and type of events conducted by the volunteers leading the campaigns and the number of participants in the events. We also plan to analyze the post-survey results to better understand the behavioral foundations for the decisions made.
We have strong hypotheses that the two treatment strategies, based on behavioral phenomena that have been shown in other settings, will both resonate with consumers. However, we do not know a priori which one will have stronger effects, if they are different at all. The effects of the two campaigns may be heterogeneous. We will also test if campaigns had different effects based on income and political affiliation at the household level.
Each of these two treatments can be motivated by the preliminary results of the survey that was held in May and June of 2022 that describes the reasons that battery storage adopters chose to install battery storage. The first “main reason for decision to install battery storage” is “backup for power outages” and the second is “ability to use solar electricity when the sun is not shining.” We also elicited survey respondents’ beliefs about battery storage. 37% strongly agreed that battery storage “reduces your reliance on the grid” and 35% state that battery storage “gives you more control over energy usage and other costs.” Thus, there is strong evidence that control and self-sufficiency are important motivators for battery storage adoption when paired with solar. We also found that 69% of adopters of battery storage and solar said that climate change “is one of the most important issues of our time.” So clearly, reducing fossil fuel use matters to battery storage adopters, and this is an obvious motivating behavioral factor for adopters of battery storage paired with solar.
The treatments are further motivated by the literature. For example, Faraji-Rad et al. (2017) present evidence that the desire for control – the need to personally control outcomes in one’s life – can act as a barrier to new product acceptance. In the paper, they state one of their findings as: “framing new products as potentially enhancing one's sense of control increases acceptance of new products by those high in desire for control (Study 3).” Battery storage is most certainly a new product on the market and we hypothesize that control is important for battery storage adoption. In an earlier paper, Busseri et al. (2006) explore this by constructing a measure of the locus of control. They state that “the more internal their consumer control beliefs, the more likely were subjects to be planful and purposive in the act of shopping.” In addition, there is work indicating that “self-efficacy” (which is defined as an individual’s belief about their capacity to execute behaviors necessary to reach an outcome) plays a substantive role in shaping individual’s attitudes (Kulviwat et al. 2014). Self-sufficiency is closely related to “self-efficacy” and thus this work also helps motivate what we are proposing. We may even see an interaction between a focus on self-sufficiency and the utilitarian value (economic value, outages, etc.) in how decisions are made – this is something that could be explored in a post-survey.