Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser Reasons for low penetration on the purchase of photovoltaic (PV) panel system among Malaysian landed property owners K. Jayaraman a, ⁎ , Lavinsaa Paramasivan b , Shaian Kiumarsi c a Taylor's Business School (TBS), Taylor's University, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia b Graduate School of Business (GSB), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), 11800 USM, Malaysia c Graduate School of Business (GSB), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), 11800 USM, Malaysia ARTICLE INFO Keywords: PV panel system Perceived cost Perceived economic returns Social influence Technology barriers Environmental concerns Purchase intention ABSTRACT The current study aims to explore the role of customer acceptance and attempts to investigate its effects on photovoltaic (PV) panel adoption among Malaysian landed property owners. Malaysia is rich in sunshine throughout the year with about 4.0–4.9 kW h/m2/day of solar radiation, a daily sunshine duration ranging from 4 to 8 h, but the extraction and utilization of sun light power is relatively less. A massive quantitative cross sectional research survey was conducted to understand customers’ perceptions towards the predictors for the purchase intention of PV panel system. Out of 157 Malaysian respondents surveyed, 74 (47.1%) of the respondents have intention to install PV panel system for their landed property houses. The findings reveal that the respondents are keen on installing PV panel system provided they get some returns in the form of electricity through money back scheme. The technology barriers and environment concerns have negative impact on the purchase intention of photovoltaic (PV) panel system. Most of the respondents who have intention to purchase PV panel system are influenced by their friends, relatives or their close colleagues. The results also indicated that the size of the roof does not moderate the purchase intention of PV panel system. Further, the respondents of the study have suggested a variety of practical implications for both manufacturers and customers of PV panel system. PV panel manufacturers can work on lowering the cost by capturing maximum sun exposure using advanced technology and design the system with different modules for short and long term ‘Use and Throw’ technology installations. On the customer side, solar system installation requires a high capital investment and therefore Malaysian customers can be allowed to use employees’ provident fund contribution withdrawal for the use of renewable energy towards contributing to the high rate of green energy applications. 1. Introduction The growth of global warming leads to an irreversible climate change that draws a concern from the world's population [14]. Energy resources have two categories which are renewable and non-renewable. Non- renewable energy resources like coal, nuclear, oil and natural gas are available in limited quantity. Renewable energy resources such as solar, wind, water (Hydro), biomass, and geothermal which can be replenished by the environment over short period of time whereas non-renewable energy cannot be easily replenished by the environment. It is, in this context, the electricity generation through solar radiation plays an important role. Meanwhile, the global warming leads to an irreversible climate change which focuses attention currently by the world's popula- tion [14]. Malaysia's energy sector is heavily depended on non-renewable fuel such as natural gas and fossil fuels as a source of energy. Various efforts have been taken by the government of Malaysia to encourage investment in solar PV projects [41]. Based on Ellabban et al. [19], one of the major sources of clean renewable energy is solar power generated from sun exposure. Besides, a focus strategy on the installation of sustainable and renewable energy systems has been adopted by the industries around the world to reduce the greenhouse emissions [51]. According to Sun et al. [72], sunlight consists of photons solar energy which can be converted into electricity. Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the sun, which actually generates both light and heat simultaneously. Only the absorbed photons provide energy to generate electricity. Solar energy produces less negative impacts on the environ- ment than other energy sources like fossil fuels, which are often produced with harmful side effects. The majority of typical PV device utilizes an individual junction type of cell to generate electricity [45]. A solar PV system includes multiple PV modules, referred to as solar panels [58].A module consists of small solar cells and a typical single silicon cell produces 1 or 2 W of power. Generally, one square meter PV module can http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.05.213 Received 24 October 2016; Received in revised form 26 April 2017; Accepted 23 May 2017 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: Jayaraman.Krishnaswamy@taylors.edu.my (K. Jayaraman), lavinsaa@gmail.com (L. Paramasivan), kiumarsi78@gmail.com (S. Kiumarsi). Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 80 (2017) 562–571 1364-0321/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. MARK