Individual Barriers to Energy-Efficient Appliance Purchases: A Review

This paper reviews the literature on the barriers encountered by consumers while purchasing energy efficient household appliances in the last decade. Energy efficient household appliances are the appliances which consume minimum energy while functioning at their fullest capacity. It is observed that the studies on barriers to energy efficient appliances are highly prevalent in the developed economies while there are not many in the BRICS nations. Moreover, in the developed nations, the barriers towards efficient appliances has been analysed from the lens of behavioural economics disregarding the rational economic perspective, while studies of similar kind are lacking in the emerging economies. The review proposes a model based on theory of planned behaviour and Prospect theory to predict the impact of barriers on consumer’s purchase behaviour. it recommends that the linear relationship between purchase intention and purchase behaviour is mediated by the presence of barriers like perceived product risks, subjective norm, perceived personal inconvenience and price sensitivity.