Title: Photovoltaic-technology adoption: emerging peculiarities in an Italian micro-family firm

Authors: Valentina Lazzarotti

Addresses: Department of Management Engineering, Università Cattaneo – LIUC, Corso Matteotti 22, Castellanza, Italy

Abstract: Photovoltaic (PV)-generated electrical power has been strongly encouraged by the Italian Government in recent years to become a financial opportunity of proven and significant relevance for companies, micro-family firms included. However, the complexity of companies' decision process suggests the idea that, beyond the influence by incentives, a more complex set of factors could be at work in order to explain family firms' behaviour. Through the lens of Rogers' framework, and taking into account previous evidence about the peculiarities of family firms, the paper provides an interpretation of a case study in the sense that the PVs technology adoption process in a micro-family firms is influenced by the interplay of different factors (familiar and non), that favour and discourage the process itself, in a complex balance of opposing forces.

Keywords: micro family firms; micro firms; micro businesses; micro enterprises; technology adoption; photovoltaic technology; family businesses; entrepreneurship; Italy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEIM.2013.055247

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, 2013 Vol.17 No.1/2/3, pp.28 - 53

Received: 02 Aug 2012
Accepted: 15 Mar 2013

Published online: 30 Apr 2014 *

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