Inside out: Individuals’ sustainability engagement in energy system transition
Licentiate thesis, 2021

Sustainability transitions research has been criticised for being mostly on the system level. To the extent individuals have been recognised, they have mostly been acting in so called niche initiatives, as entrepreneurs, grassroot innovators or users. Not much attention has been paid to individuals connected to established organisations, here called insiders. Through case studies in three different settings, this thesis shows that insiders, who actively and independently choose to engage in sustainability initiatives, can be key enablers of an energy system transition. Engaged insiders, contextualise the value of a sustainability initiative through adding to a new narrative and attracting others to join the narrative.

Three contexts in which insiders can choose to engage are introduced and explained: outreach engagement, entrepreneurial engagement and job engagement. Assisted by theories from social psychology, it is also explained why sustainability engagement sometimes does not occur when expected.
The main contribution of this thesis is that individuals can choose to engage in a sustainability transition in different contexts in and beyond their organisational home grounds. These individuals are important to see and appreciate if we want to better understand how sustainability transitions are achieved.

Energy system transitions

Sustainability engagement

Individuals

TME Room Slottsskogen V2 - 2324
Opponent: Rita Klapper, Department of Strategy, Enterprise and Sustainability Manchester Metropolitan University, Business School

Author

Niklas Fernqvist

Chalmers, Technology Management and Economics, Entrepreneurship and Strategy

Recommendation and context: the missing links for increased life cycle impact in large industries

International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment,; Vol. 25(2020)p. 240-251

Journal article

Fernqvist, N., & Lundqvist, M. Introducing individual engagement in sustainability transitions: The case of RiverCity Gothenburg.

Subject Categories

Social Sciences Interdisciplinary

Business Administration

Information Systemes, Social aspects

Driving Forces

Innovation and entrepreneurship

Publisher

Chalmers

TME Room Slottsskogen V2 - 2324

Online

Opponent: Rita Klapper, Department of Strategy, Enterprise and Sustainability Manchester Metropolitan University, Business School

More information

Latest update

3/11/2021