Exploring the Multidimensional and Multilevel Characteristics of User Engagement in Green Technologies to Promote Green Growth

For a few decades now green technologies have been effectively promoted by businesses, universities, research institutes that led the development and commercialization processes. Yet, their uptake by users has not reached desired levels in the UK. For instance, electric vehicle registrations amounted to only 1.8% of total registrations in 2017 (www.nextgreencar.com). Only one million homes in the UK are powered by sun (Solar Trade UK, 2017).
Green growth also depends on awareness and interest of ordinary users in green technologies for mass consumption. Users who are interested in green technologies are well-informed and make conscious choices. Literature largely investigated these users, how they contribute to development of technologies along with motives driving their consumption patterns. Most ordinary users are less-informed or not informed at all, or may hold wrong ideas about green technologies. This prevents them from taking risks and switching to novel technologies.
This research aims to explore the wide-ranging characteristics of users in accepting/resisting/improving green technologies and intends to show why more ordinary user engagement is important for mass uptake of green technologies to accelerate green growth in the UK.
Expected outcomes are mapping and modelling the UK users’ multidimensional and multilevel characteristics regarding green technologies from a demand-side perspective. Using an in-depth survey, we shall build on extant literatures of innovation studies, social shaping of technology and consumer behaviour which investigated mostly well-informed users from different angles, but overlooked the role of ordinary users and how they can be engaged in the greening process to drive mass consumption.