Consumer adoption intention for electric vehicles: Insights and evidence from Indian sustainable transportation

•This study employed an extended approach of ‘TAM’ to predict EV adoption intention.•Conceptual model based on a linkage perspective of ‘beliefs-attitude-intention’.•The direct paths along with underlying mediation & moderation effects were tested.•Results verify the model of the sum of positive & negative beliefs of EV adoption.•Study addresses the essential research gap by analysing the mediator of attitude.•Contributes to the literature via the moderator of financial incentives policy. The study aims to operationalize and test the extended ‘Technology Acceptance Model’ (TAM) with perceived risk and financial incentives policy based on the integrative approach of ‘beliefs-attitude-intention’ in order to understand and predict consumers’ intention to adopt electric vehicles (EVs). The research model also seeks to examine the mediating role of attitude towards EVs and the moderation of financial incentives policy in the context of an emerging sustainable transportation market. The model was empirically tested by structural equation modeling using online survey from Indian respondents. The findings reveal that adoption intention for EVs is directly and indirectly influenced by the predictor variables of attitude, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived risk, with the moderation of financial incentives policy. All the direct hypotheses were accepted, except the relationship between perceived risk and attitude. In addition, the findings also confirm that attitude partially mediate the effects of usefulness and ease of use on the adoption intention, however, no mediating effect of attitude has been found between risk and adoption intention. The discussion and implications offer deeper insights for policymakers and marketers on promoting EVs in the direction of future research in the sustainable transportation.