Agency of institutional intermediaries in transitions: A study of influences on intermediary practices
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2025

Traditionally, the literature on socio-technical transitions has predominantly focused on system-level phenomena. However, to fully comprehend the processes of change, it is crucial to understand the roles and practices of individual actors involved in these transitions. This paper examines institutional intermediaries, which are actors with the mission to implement policies. Our objective is to explore how agency influences the practices of institutional intermediaries in operationalizing their policy missions. The paper draws on an interview study of individuals serving as institutional intermediaries, financed by a national energy agency, to support citizens and organizations in adopting sustainable technologies and practices. We introduce an analytical framework highlighting that institutional intermediaries are subject to multiple levels of influence. These include top-down influences, coming from national or local decision-makers, bottom-up influences from local clients, as well as middle-out influences derived from their own agency and interpretation of their institutional role. The latter significantly impacts how institutional intermediaries operationalize their policy missions. Consequently, intermediaries are not merely passive implementers of national policies but also agents with their own agendas. This has important implications for the theoretical understanding of intermediary actors’ behaviors in transitions and for the design of public or governmental employees’ tasks and missions.

Social psychology

Policy mission

Strategy

Institutional intermediaries

Social-technical transitions

Change agent

Författare

Ingrid Johansson Mignon

Chalmers, Teknikens ekonomi och organisation, Innovation and R&D Management

Lisa Bastås

Innovation and R&D Management 01

Technological Forecasting and Social Change

0040-1625 (ISSN)

Vol. 217 124171

Offentlig energirådgivning som styrmedel för en storskalig spridning av solceller – en studie av svensk kommunal energi- och klimatrådgivning

Energimyndigheten (49379-1), 2020-11-01 -- 2024-04-30.

Ämneskategorier (SSIF 2025)

Övrig annan samhällsvetenskap

DOI

10.1016/j.techfore.2025.124171

Mer information

Senast uppdaterat

2025-05-09