User-Intermediaries and the Local Embedding of Low Carbon Technologies

26 Pages Posted: 19 Aug 2017

See all articles by Jake Barnes

Jake Barnes

Environmental Change Institute

Date Written: August 16, 2017

Abstract

This article draws on three theoretical fields, innovation intermediaries, socio-technical transitions and domestication studies to develop a process perspective of how user-side intermediary organisations seek to locally embed low carbon technologies. The term local embedding is increasingly used by transition researchers in a variety of ways. The first contribution of this paper is to explore and substantiate the concept of local embedding as the process of integrating technologies into local contexts of use. Intermediary organisations are conceived as contributing to local embedding where they facilitate, configure and broker change towards configurations that work. Nonetheless, understanding how these key intermediary processes relate as well as the influence of system dynamics on the work intermediaries undertake is still largely uncharted territory. The paper’s second contribution is a process perspective on the agency of intermediary organisations in local embedding. The resulting perspective offers insights into the agency of user-side intermediaries and later phases of transition processes.

Keywords: Intermediary Organisations, Local Embedding, Socio-Technical Transitions, Domestication

Suggested Citation

Barnes, Jake, User-Intermediaries and the Local Embedding of Low Carbon Technologies (August 16, 2017). SWPS 2017-15, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3019957 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3019957

Jake Barnes (Contact Author)

Environmental Change Institute ( email )

Oxford University Centre for the Environment
South Parks Road
Oxford, OX1 3QY
United Kingdom

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