TY - JOUR

T1 - Role of psychology in sociotechnical transitions studies

T2 - Review in relation to consumption and technology acceptance

AU - Bögel, Paula Maria

AU - Upham, Paul

PY - 2018/9

Y1 - 2018/9

N2 - In the sustainability transitions literature, social phenomena have mostly been examined in relation to - and at the level of - collective forms of action. Here our focus is on psychological, primarily individualistic approaches to understanding action as behaviour, with particular attention to consumption and technology acceptance. We document and discuss the ways in which the psychology of agents or actors has been described and theorised in these contexts within the sociotechnical transitions literature to date, both implicitly and explicitly. A review of the latter literature shows that while actor motivation and behaviour are often implicitly referred to, these are rarely theorised explicitly using psychological concepts. Reasons for the limited use of individual-level, psychological constructs are discussed and suggestions for how these may be more closely connected to structural and collective processes are made.

AB - In the sustainability transitions literature, social phenomena have mostly been examined in relation to - and at the level of - collective forms of action. Here our focus is on psychological, primarily individualistic approaches to understanding action as behaviour, with particular attention to consumption and technology acceptance. We document and discuss the ways in which the psychology of agents or actors has been described and theorised in these contexts within the sociotechnical transitions literature to date, both implicitly and explicitly. A review of the latter literature shows that while actor motivation and behaviour are often implicitly referred to, these are rarely theorised explicitly using psychological concepts. Reasons for the limited use of individual-level, psychological constructs are discussed and suggestions for how these may be more closely connected to structural and collective processes are made.

KW - Agency

KW - Consumption

KW - Psychology

KW - Socio-technical transitions

KW - Technology acceptance

KW - Sustainability Science

KW - Sustainability sciences, Communication

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85040562843&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.eist.2018.01.002

DO - 10.1016/j.eist.2018.01.002

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85040562843

VL - 28

SP - 122

EP - 136

JO - Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions

JF - Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions

SN - 2210-4224

ER -