Talking Cash or Talking Environment? Target-group specific communication of community solar offerings

This research investigates the role of emphasizing financial benefits in communication strategies for community solar offers. While the current literature suggests, based on motivational crowding-out theory, that emphasizing the extrinsic benefits of a behavior undertaken due to intrinsic motivation impacts such behavior negatively, this article finds evidence for the opposite effect. To examine the effect of emphasizing extrinsic benefits on customers’ willingness to subscribe to community solar, an experimental study that included a pre-test was designed. The pre-test (N=59) was conducted in a laboratory setting using eye-tracking and survey measurements. The main study was conducted online with Swiss electricity customers (N=195). In both samples, no statistical evidence for a motivational crowding-out effect was identified when financial benefits were emphasized. In contrast, in both samples specific customer segments were identified that responded positively when financial benefits were emphasized (i.e. their willingness to subscribe to community solar increased significantly). As a result, this article suggests different options for customer-segment-based communication strategies to maximize overall willingness to subscribe to community solar in the long term.