## 1 Introduction
In the United Kingdom, social influencing factors such as image, social norms, or voluntariness, have been identified [11] as predictors of perceived utility (PU), which is the perceived ease of use or intention to use HEMS for technologies. Another study applied in Denmark [23] addresses the impact of consumer networks on consumer behavior from the perspective of social influence. In a systematic review based on previous research [24], three types of social influences have been identified that affect the decision to adopt vehicles based on alternative fuels: interpersonal communication, neighborhood effect, and conformity with social norms. [PERSON] study [25] showed the impact of public policies on the social acceptance of smart meters in the population of Chile. Last but not least, [PERSON] et al. [12] assigns an essential role underlying social motives and social norms in the adoption of energy efficient technologies, showing that social influence, along with behavior and attitude, are the strongest predictor of the intention to adopt. The review of specialized literature reveals certain research gaps. As previously shown, in the majority of TAM-based approaches, social influence is treated as a global variable, although the impact of social influence on technology adoption intention is differentiated according to the channels through which it is exerted. In this context, as an element of novelty, the conceptual model proposed in this paper distinctly approaches the impact of social influence on the following dimensions--network of friends, colleagues or family, and public space--regarding the process of adopting EESS technologies. Also, the role of public policies in the exercise of social influence is a topic that is not frequently addressed in specialized literature, as most research is focused on the perspective of friends, family, colleagues or social networks. In the case of the adoption of technologies aimed at increasing energy efficiency, such as in the case of EESS, public policies constitute one of the main avenues for voluntary modification of the consumption behavior of household users, including through the exercise of social influence, which is why this paper gives major importance both in the direction of the research of these influences, as well as with a view to formulating proposals to improve policies aimed at the degree of adoption of EESS. In continuation of the above approaches, this research proposes an adaptation of the extended technology acceptance model (TAM) to analyze the behavioral intention to use EESS technologies under the effect of social influence at the level of the domestic energy consumer sector in Romania. In the context of this main objective, the major contributions of the paper aim to:  
* highlight the strong direct effect of social influence on perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, hedonic motivation, and expected performance;
* demonstrate the indirect role of social influence on the behavioral intention to use EESS;
* formulate a set of proposals in the direction of improving marketing strategies and public policies for increasing the degree of assimilation of EESS solutions by maximizing the role of social influence. Research is structured as follows: after the introduction section, Section 2 comprises the conceptual model and the development of the research hypotheses using the extended TAM model. Section 3 includes the materials and methods used in the research. Section 4 contains the results obtained. Section 5 includes a discussion and analysis of the implications of the results obtained in the previous section. Section 6 contains the research conclusions.