The impact of incentive policies on shipowners' adoption behavior of clean energy technologies: Evidence from China

Incentive policies are an important driving force in promoting the adoption of clean energy technology. To enhance the effectiveness of incentive policies at the early stage of clean energy technology development, this study focuses on shipowners as the main body of clean energy technology application, starts from the micro viewpoint of shipowners, takes into account the psychological factors of shipowners, and expands the traditional Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) by taking the incentive policy variables as the external driving factors, construct a theoretical framework of the impact of incentive policies on shipowners' behavior. Structural equation modeling is used to verify the constructed theoretical assumptions and explore the operation mechanism between different types of incentive policies and shipowners' behavior. A survey of 236 shipowners in China shows that: (1) Financial incentive policies have a greater impact on shipowners' adoption of clean energy technologies than non-financial incentive policies. Green funds, tax exemptions, infrastructure construction, and shipping route priority are considered the most attractive policy measures. (2) The three psychological variables of behavioral attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control have a significant positive impact on shipowners' intentions and behavior. The research findings can provide strong decision-making support for the design of incentive policies to promote the adoption of clean energy technologies on ships.