Drivers of sustainable new technology diffusion in national markets: The case of electric vehicles

This study investigates the factors that impact the diffusion of sustainable new technologies (SNTs) in nations. The article focuses on four country-level variables—development status, focus on sustainability, innovation focus, and type of government—and their relationship with SNT diffusion. In addition to using regression to assess the independent variables' sufficiency, necessary condition analysis is used to analyze the necessity of the variables for SNT diffusion. Data consisted of a 10-year panel data set containing sales of electric vehicles from 2008 to 2017 across 89 countries. Results suggest a significant correlation between the development status of a country and diffusion levels of SNT. Similar results were found for focus on sustainability and innovation focus variables. Finally, relatively established SNT diffusion is affected by government type. Development status, focus on sustainability, and innovation focus were necessary for the diffusion of SNT in a country. In contrast, the absence of dictatorial regimes was also found to be necessary.