Exploring the microfoundations of end-user interests toward co-creating renewable energy technology innovations

Abstract

Energy market transition, which is enabled by new affordable energy technologies and digitalization, opens novel opportunities for developing innovative energy solutions. These new technologies facilitate energy consumers to become local energy prosumers i.e. consumers and producers of energy using renewable energy sources. Hence, a central question for innovating new solutions emerges: how energy consumers and prosumers would engage in co-creating value and novel solutions with industry players? This article explores the microfoundations of energy consumers’ and prosumers’ interest to participate in co-creation activities with energy industry actors. Using survey data from five European countries and by applying variance-based structural equation modeling, we find that rewards and personal characteristics influence the interest to engage in co-creation activities. Specifically, the microfoundations of the interest are built upon the need for improvements, the intrinsic rewards, and the personal adopter characteristics. Additionally, we find differing microfoundations of interest for energy consumers and prosumers. We further discuss managerial and theoretical implications of our findings and highlight avenues for future research.