Exploring socio-psychological factors driving adoption of renewable energy products

This research addresses the socio-psychological factors influencing consumer intentions to adopt renewable energy (RE) products within Malaysia, an emerging market context. Building upon the established Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this study proposes an enhanced model by integrating two crucial constructs: green trust and attitudinal ambivalence (AA). This integration addresses a critical gap in existing TPB applications, which often overlook the role of trust formation and attitudinal conflict under the conditions of risk, uncertainty, and social pressure. These conditions are often characteristic of emerging RE markets. Data is collected via a cross-sectional online survey distributed across Malaysian consumer groups and LinkedIn over 3 months ( N = 435). The conceptual model is tested using Structural Equation Modeling. The key findings demonstrate that green trust operates as a necessary antecedent, preceding the formation of a positive environmental attitude toward RE adoption. Furthermore, AA is confirmed as a significant predictor of behavioral intention. Traditional TPB constructs, such as subjective norms, are not significant, and perceived behavioral control has negligible effects. By explicitly modeling consumer trust issues and conflicting feelings, this updated framework offers a more accurate and better-performing explanation of consumer adoption decisions in uncertain markets. The findings provide practitioners and policymakers with a refined, theoretically sound model for designing interventions to accelerate RE adoption in similar emerging economies.