Collective stakeholder representations and perceptions of drivers of novel biomass-based value chains

Abstract

European Union (EU) policies aim to enable novel biomass-based value chains which require collaboration among their stakeholders. However little is known about how stakeholders collectively represent the scope and boundary of drivers that enhance or limit these novel biomass-based value chains. Thus, the objective of this article is to present the first comprehensive set of results about the collective representations and perceptions of novel biomass-based value chain drivers held by German stakeholders. These results were produced using Group Concept Mapping (GCM), a bottom-up and participatory mixed methods-based approach. The results include a multivariate estimated concept map comprising 54 drivers spatially distributed across eight interrelated clusters. The spatial organization of clusters on the concept map provides insights on their interrelatedness and conceptual configuration which reveal stakeholders’ concept breadth and depth of novel biomass value chains. Moreover, the relative importance and relative feasibility measures for each cluster of drivers were obtained. These measures indicate significant statistical differences between perceived relative importance and feasibility ratings. A discussion compares the results with available empirical evidence to further interpret the interrelatedness of the clusters, and provide additional insights regarding effective policy formulation for enabling novel biomass-based value chains.