Renewable Energy Investment: Applying a Motivation Opportunity and Ability Framework in Evaluating Investment Behaviour

Abstract

In view of the recent intensified focus on renewable energy, different policies and support schemes have been extensively employed and implemented to promote the use of such by governments around the world. Previous research has focused on various technical and socio-economic challenges and solutions to renewable energy investment. But it is also important to identify and develop a multidimensional perspective of such barriers in order to increase investment. In this paper a model has been proposed to examine the investment behaviour in renewable energy which relies upon the Motivation-Opportunity-Ability framework illustrating how different barriers may associate with motivational, contextual and situational factors affecting investment behaviour. In addition to traditional investment rules, firms’ investment behaviour is determined by a number of other cognitive factors. Investment behavior is further conceptualized incorporating different barriers, and a model has been proposed to test how the behavior of investors’ could be influenced by such barriers.