A SOCIAL NORMS PERSPECTIVE ON THE UPTAKE OF SPLAR PANELS IN GERMANY: SOLAR SUBSIDIES AND INSTITUTIONAL NORM SIGNALING

Abstract

The thesis employs a social-norm perspective to analyze the role of government subsidies for solar panel adoption, compared with private discounts, in helping Germany to achieve climate neutrality by 2045. The literature on social norms indicates that institutional signals, like government legislation, can shape perceptions of social norms. Moreover, interventions targeting social norms have successfully shifted behavior, including in the field of climate action. The thesis, therefore, investigates the extent to which a government-sponsored subsidy increases consumers’ willingness to adopt solar panels compared to equivalent private discounts. It further tests the extent to which the government subsidy signals to people that a certain level of support for solar panels already exists, and whether that assumption, in turn, increases interest in adoption. Expert interviews provided insights into Germany’s political landscape and the factors shaping social norms around rooftop solar purchases. Results from a survey experiment involving 705 homeowners in Germany indicated that the government subsidy significantly affected participants’ willingness to tell their friends about the solar panel offer but did not influence their actual interest in adopting solar panels or in seeking more information. Surprisingly, while the data from the experiment suggests a significant positive association between perceived norms and participants’ interest in adopting solar panels, the government subsidy decreased the perceived norm that installing solar panels is a growing trend in Germany. This negative effect on perceived norms may be interpreted as in part due to levels of trust in the governing party, CDU/CSU. The findings not only contribute to understanding how the source of financial incentives, public or private, influences consumer behavior, but also suggest that encouraging consumers to act positively on perceived social norms, that is, by installing solar panels, requires clear, reliable government signals.