Social Networks and Household Electricity Reliability: Evidence From Africa's Household Survey

Hong Zhang, Helian Xu and Yuping Deng

Review of Development Economics, 2025, vol. 29, issue 4, 2144-2156

Abstract: Reliable electricity is crucial for enhancing household living conditions and ensuring sustainable national development. Social networks, which influence household behavioral decisions, significantly contribute to the acquisition and reliability of household electricity. Based on data from rounds 3–8 of the Afrobarometer, this study investigated the influence of social networks on household electricity reliability in African countries. The results revealed that social networks markedly improved household electricity reliability. The analysis further identifies that these improvement effects are achieved through increasing employment opportunities, improving living conditions, and a greater willingness to participate in collective action. Moreover, social networks have a stronger influence than main grid supplies on the reliability of alternative electricity sources, with a notably higher impact coefficient in the North African region than elsewhere. The positive effects of social networks on electricity reliability are also more pronounced among those who have informal rather than formal education. These findings suggest that policies aimed at bolstering social networks should be implemented to promote household electricity reliability.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/rode.13208

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:rdevec:v:29:y:2025:i:4:p:2144-2156

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=1363-6669

Access Statistics for this article

Review of Development Economics is currently edited by E. Kwan Choi

More articles in Review of Development Economics from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().