Beyond carrot-and-stick: How values and endogenous motivations affect residential Green IS adoption

Research on the adoption of information systems (IS) has been dominated by mechanistic motivational theories (extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivation). In contrast, the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) goes beyond the traditional dichotomy of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation by distinguishing between different types of motivation based on one’s perceived self-determination when performing a behavior (Ryan and Deci 2000). Our study contributes to IS research by examining the role of endogenous motivation on the adoption of Green IS. Our research model additionally investigates the role of personal values as they ultimately motivate actions (Schwartz 2009) and are suggested to be important antecedents of eco-innovations’ adoption. To test our model we collected data from an online survey from 1.319 consumers, both actual users and non-users. Results show that especially autonomous motivations are influential drivers of Green IS adoption. Further, a comparison of both groups reveals that extrinsic rewards tend to be more relevant for non-users.