The talk with present the key results of the IPCC Working Group III 5th assessment report. Concluding four years of intense scientific collaboration by hundreds of authors from around the world, the report responds to the request of the world's governments for a comprehensive, objective and policy neutral assessment of the current scientific knowledge on mitigating climate change. The report has been extensively reviewed by experts and governments to ensure quality and comprehensiveness.

Climate change 2014 - Mitigation of climate change

In this innovative approach to the practice of social science, Charles Ragin explores the use of fuzzy sets to bridge the divide between quantitative and qualitative methods. Paradoxically, the fuzzy set is a powerful tool because it replaces an unwieldy, "fuzzy" instrument—the variable, which establishes only the positions of cases relative to each other, with a precise one—degree of membership in a well-defined set. Ragin argues that fuzzy sets allow a far richer dialogue between ideas and evidence in social research than previously possible. They let quantitative researchers abandon "homogenizing assumptions" about cases and causes, they extend diversity-oriented research strategies, and they provide a powerful connection between theory and data analysis. Most important, fuzzy sets can be carefully tailored to fit evolving theoretical concepts, sharpening quantitative tools with in-depth knowledge gained through qualitative, case-oriented inquiry. This book will revolutionize research methods not only in sociology, political science, and anthropology but in any field of inquiry dealing with complex patterns of causation.

Fuzzy-Set Social Science

Whether the subsidized adoption is sustainable largely depends on consumers’ perceptions and motivation toward EVs purchase. In this study, we reveal the mechanism on how perceptions and motivation impact consumers’ EV purchase intention. Based on the analysis of 264 respondents, we find that perceived economic benefits, perceived environmental benefits, and perceived risks are correlated with each other. These perceptions can explain and predict attitudes towards EV purchase intention, thus playing primary roles in influencing EV adoption. We further find that regulatory focus (i.e. promotion-focus versus prevention-focus) has profound impacts on perceptions and the constructs of the theory of planned behavior. Promotion-focused respondents are more sensitive to perceived environmental benefits and more easily to form positive attitudes toward EV purchase, whereas the prevention-focused respondents are not. The findings can help policy-makers to make more effective adoption policy by emphasizing EV’s environmental benefits to consumers, and guide managers to more accurately activate consumers’ purchase intention through the angles of perceptions and motivation.

Is Subsidized Electric Vehicles Adoption Sustainable: Consumers’ Perceptions and Motivation Toward Incentive Policies, Environmental Benefits, and Risks

Why is the world not yet ready to use alternative fuel vehicles

Human activity has caused an increase in greenhouse gas emissions – the main cause of major changes in the environment. The transport sector contributes more than a quarter of these emissions. Ther...

Factors influencing consumers’ intentions to purchase electric vehicles in Ghana

Despite the increasing interest in shared parking, little attention has been devoted to its perceptions and acceptance among drivers. To fill such a gap, this paper develops a novel theoretical framework in which perceived network externality, cost risk, safety risk, and management pressure are incorporated into the Combined Technology Acceptance Model and Theory of Planned Behavior (C-TAM-TPB). This paper merely focuses on positive network externality. First, a mathematical model is proposed to verify some of the hypotheses. The analytical results show that both a driver’s utility and the shared parking platform’s equilibrium demand are increasing in the effect of network externality and decreasing in the effect of risks. Second, a structural equation modeling approach with the partial least squares algorithm is employed for parameter estimation and model assessment. We conducted a quantitative study with 321 usable responses. The empirical results show that, except for management pressure, all the other constructs measured in the study had a significant total effect on user attitude and use intention towards shared parking. The corresponding amount of variance in attitude and use intention explained by our research model was 68.4% and 72.6%, respectively. Our findings shall provide useful insights into the better implementation of shared parking applications from managerial, technological, and operational perspectives.

Shared parking acceptance under perceived network externality and risks: Theory and evidence

Understanding the driving factors associated with electric vehicle (EV) purchases is a prerequisite for governments and firms to develop corresponding policy interventions and marketing strategies. However, prior studies primarily focus on the individual role of psychological and policy attributes, and there has been limited research on how the combinations or configurations of psychological and policy attributes jointly influence consumers’ EV purchase intentions. To fill this gap, we draw on the configurational theory to develop a research framework by integrating three psychological attributes (i.e., attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control) and four policy attributes (i.e., purchase subsidies, license plate control, preferential usage, and preferential driving). We build a paired dataset with both qualitative and quantitative data. Using the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) approach, the empirical results from China reveal that configurations of attributes that lead to high EV purchase intention always include at least one psychological attribute. In contrast, even if a government has implemented purchase subsidies, the joint absences of attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control lead to low EV purchase intention. We also provide interesting insights into different sociodemographic characteristics. We contribute to EV adoption literature by revealing the configurations of attributes associated with EV purchase intention from a new theoretical perspective. Our findings assist policymakers in developing potential alternatives when faced with policy adjustment.

Lixu Li

Papers

Shared parking acceptance under perceived network externality and risks: Theory and evidence

Why do consumers choose to buy electric vehicles? A paired data analysis of purchase intention configurations