Impacts of project attributes on investment preferences : an empirical cluster analysis of energy conservation investment attitudes

Investment attitude refers to the way managements of firms value attributes of investment proposals and weigh them in their final appraisal. It seems that among firms in the Netherlands an investment attitude exists that hinders the implementation of energy conservation projects. Using paired comparison results from a survey on energy conservation, this paper evaluates investment preferences of firms by applying a Bradley-Terry model. The impact of project attributes on the investment preference is analysed in order to disclose the underlying investment attitude and to identify barriers to the advance of energy conservation technologies. A latent class approach is used to detect clusters of firms for which specific barners play a dominant role.