Socio-technical Change Research Articles

Frames of systems change in sustainability transformations: Lessons from sociotechnical systems and circular economy case studies

Tackling the world's most complex challenges requires transforming systems purposefully, which involves reflecting on the directionality of ongoing systems transformations and the design of policy mixes capable of steering systems in more desirable directions. It is argued that a framing lens helps to advance understanding of this challenge by surfacing situated and heterogeneous perspectives on systems change. Frames are knowledge structures and default assumptions that help to guide action. This paper examines the frames of ‘systems change’ in purposeful sustainability transformations. To this end, a meta-synthesis of 155 case studies of sociotechnical systems change for sustainability and circular economy was conducted. Inductively coding these cases and comparing the emergent themes, four frames of systems change for sustainability were identified, varying depending on what they deem feasible and desirable change, the mechanisms and processes of change-making, and the different actor roles in these pursuits. A process model is developed to explain how explicit attention to frames can support opening up the directionality of purposeful systems transformations in ways that inform the design and implementation of more plural policy mixes. This contributes to the literature on directionality by providing insights on the boundaries of frames for systems change and the policy mix literature by identifying ways to engage directly with key assumptions guiding change-making efforts.

DBA as an enabler of future management practice – case study insights and reflections from recent graduates

Purpose The purpose of the study is to explore a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) programme in the context of a small emerging Irish university as an enabler for future management practice development. Design/methodology/approach The research comprises a literature review and a single case study focused on a single DBA graduate of a DBA programme embedded in a new technological Irish university. Findings Findings indicate that the DBA supports a unique form of managerial learning supportive of the development of future management practice in graduates. Specifically, such managerial learning emerges from the embracement of differences by both faculty and students; guidance by faculty in opening students to uncertainty and unknowing and in supporting students towards becoming architects of socio-technical organisational change. Ultimately, the DBA graduate is not viewed as leaving the programme, with novel management practices that are time-bound, rather they are imbued with a learning potential supportive of continual management practice development into the future. Theoretically, the authors extend studies that indicate the potential of the DBA as a mechanism for management practice development, indicating the role of managerial learning in context. Research limitations/implications The research is limited to a single case study of a DBA programme embedded in a new technological Irish university and draws from the perspective of one key informant graduate. Hence, future research into how managerial learning impacts new management practice development in the context of other universities is encouraged. Practical implications The central role of managerial learning promoted in the DBA within this new technological university indicates two practical implications of the research. First, both organisations and students considering DBA education as a means of developing future management practices are encouraged to contemplate such education through the lens of managerial learning. It is anticipated that such contemplation will improve preparedness. Second, business schools are encouraged to contemplate improving their programmes through the managerial learning lens, with such improvement activating potential in marketing the DBA to both students and organisations. Originality/value Theoretically the authors extend existing studies that indicate the potential of the DBA as a mechanism for management practice development. Specifically the role of contextual managerial learning is articulated, and is argued to support a management practice development capable of continual transformation.

Evaluating video and hybrid group consultations in general practice: mixed-methods, participatory study protocol (TOGETHER 2).

General practice is facing an unprecedented challenge in managing the consequences of the pandemic. In the midst of a policy drive to balance remote and in-person service provision, substantial workload pressures remain, together with increasing prevalence of long-term conditions, and declining staff numbers and morale. To address these challenges, some practices in the UK have been delivering video and hybrid group consultations (VHGCs) providing clinical care to multiple patients at the same time. Despite positive initial findings and enthusiasm, there are still gaps in our understanding of the influence VHGCs have on patient experience, healthcare utilisation, quality, safety, equity and affordability. To generate an in-depth understanding of VHGCs for chronic conditions in general practice, surface assumptions and sociotechnical dynamics, inform practice and extend theorisation. Mixed-methods, multi-site research study using co-design and participatory methods, from qualitative, quantitative and cost-related perspectives. WP1 includes a national, cross-sectional survey on VHGC provision across the UK. In WP2 we will engage patients and general practice staff in co-design workshops to develop VHGC models with emphasis on digital inclusion and equity. In WP3 we will carry out a mixed-methods process evaluation in up to 10 GP practices across England (5 sites already running VHGCs and 5 comparison sites). Qualitative methods will include interviews, focus groups and ethnographic observation to examine the experiences of patients, carers, clinical and non-clinical NHS staff, commissioners and policy-makers. Quantitative methods will examine the impact of VHGCs on healthcare utilisation in primary and secondary care, patient satisfaction, engagement and activation. We will also assess value for money of group and individual care models from a health economics perspective. We aim to develop transferable learning on sociotechnical change in healthcare delivery, using VHGCs as an exemplar of technology-supported innovation. Findings will also inform the design of a future study.

Investigating Published Research towards a Fossil-Energy-Free Agriculture Transformation

The defossilisation of the agricultural sector is driven by intense worldwide academic research on non-fossil, renewable and energy-efficient agriculture, and the acknowledgment of the need for sustainable farming practices. For this purpose, not only technical transformations but also socio-technical system changes towards sustainability need to take place in a co-evolutionary manner. This paper investigates structural and qualitative characteristics of the knowledge produced by research on fossil-energy-free agriculture. We provide evidence on the worldwide research directions, as well as investigate whether academic research and publicly funded research projects foster knowledge creation for the desired transformation. Bibliographic maps are constructed using a query-based methodology as social networks to investigate the efficiency of the EU-funded research to achieve the goals set for the 2050 EU Green Deal. The H2020-funded papers are further analysed with dictionary-based text analysis to quantify the relative emphasis of different types of knowledge in the text. This approach is eventually used to relate transformational capacity to project profiles in the European Union, to evaluate past funding schemes and to improve the shape of future research programs on renewable and sustainable agriculture.

The Tolerance and Limits of Acceptable Change in Heritage Buildings: The Case of Traditional Shophouses in Malaysia

The protection of heritage buildings is of utmost importance. In today's world, historic buildings face various threats that push them to the brink of extinction or marginalisation. The natural fatigue process of buildings, uncontrolled urbanisation and socio-technical change are among the main driving forces. Therefore, heritage buildings need to be constantly monitored and carefully conserved so that they can continue to be used and retain their dignity. It is thus important to understand the extent to which we can alter the significance of heritage buildings during their conservation. The beginnings of the conservation approach are associated with an attempt to reject any changes to the physical characteristics of heritage buildings. More recently, however, conservation practice has evolved into a process of managing changes. Only by understanding the limits of acceptable change to heritage and identifying heritage's tolerance of change can we find an appropriate way to manage change to heritage and preserve its cultural significance. A literature review and content analysis were conducted to gain insights into the concept of change in heritage management theories and norms. This search was continued to explore the limits of acceptable change and the tolerance of heritage buildings to change through authorised international and national policies. The case of shophouses in Malaysia is studied. The results show that conservation standards have relaxed their stance on the presence of change in heritage architecture. However, intellectual research on understanding the limits of acceptable change for the careful transformation of heritage buildings through the management of change is still relatively scarce.

Distributed leadership and the shaping of infrastructure project portfolios

Important socio-technical changes are increasingly being implemented through major programmes or portfolios of projects (Maylor et al., 2006). These interventions, while necessary for modernisation and the green transition, cause short-term disruption which generates discord and opposition impacting stakeholder perception. The long-term sustainable transformation of rail transportation infrastructure toward electrification, greater speed, digital signalling, creates great benefit in terms of energy and carbon efficiency, reliability, and punctuality, but the short-term disruption caused by the projects can reduce the attractiveness of this mode of transport. This paper reports findings from an embedded case study with the Danish national railway infrastructure owner and analyses how the leadership team uses distributed leadership as a dynamic process of project and portfolio shaping which internalises diverse external perspectives and reconciles competing objectives. Using the “Tesseract” four-dimensional model of project success Ika and Pinto (2022a)to frame these competing interests, this paper presents a model of how distributed leadership shapes the railway project portfolio through the considerations of coherence, disruption, and benefit.

Creating legitimacy for cultured meat in Germany: The role of social cohesion

Few studies on legitimation of new technologies were able to provide insights into the longitudinal changes in legitimacy outcomes and the social dynamics that underpin such outcomes. Using a novel mixed-methods approach, combining Natural Language Processing with a qualitative text analysis, and drawing on the concept of social cohesion to investigate the social relations among actors, the study offers new insights into the legitimation of cultured meat in Germany. Using 424 newspaper articles, we identify four topics in the public discourse related to cultured meat and positive average sentiment on each topic over the period 2011–2021. Furthermore, we find the actors, groups, and social relations that shape the observed legitimacy outcomes. The empirical findings are used to develop propositions about the role of social cohesion in legitimacy creation. The study paves the way for future studies on social cohesion dynamics in socio-technical change.

CCS technological innovation system dynamics in Norway

CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS) is today seen as a key technology to cut carbon emissions in many hard-to-abate sectors such as energy-intensive processing industries and the waste sector. Although CO2 capture is technically possible, key challenges for realizing CCS persist. Over the past decade, CCS has taken a new direction with more focus on application in energy-intensive industries rather than the energy sector. For CCS value chains to materialize, innovation and implementation thus needs to occur amongst an array of actors, with different innovation modes, institutions, and policy regimes, and with varying sectoral capacities for adaptation and change. There has so far been limited social science research on CCS innovation dynamics, which we suggest approaching as a socio-technical change process. To better understand this process, we draw on the sustainability transitions research field and employ the Technological Innovation System (TIS) framework to study the CCS innovation system in Norway. We find that, overall, the Norwegian CCS TIS displays systemic weaknesses for example in the form of market formation and resource mobilization, yet recent developments suggest a relatively positive momentum for this technological field which is key to meeting Norwegian and global climate mitigation targets.

Power (re)distribution: How dominant capital regained control of the Energiewende

The Energiewende (energy transition) is the dynamic and contested project of energy transition in Germany. It encompasses both the sociotechnical transformation of the German electricity system and the reorganization of the sector’s ownership structure. In this paper, we present a Capital-as-Power (CasP) based analysis, investigating industrial path-dependency and innovation as part of the dialectics of power and sociotechnical change in capitalism. According to CasP, dominant capital seeks to increase its differential accumulation, i.e., accumulation relative to a benchmark. Energiewende policies initially decreased the differential accumulation of dominant electricity firms in Germany. However, we find that by concentrating their control over the shrinking conventional generation capacity, while variable generation expanded, dominant firms gained the leverage needed to increase differential prices and profits, thus managing to regain sectoral control by increasing their threat to reliable power supply. We find that these processes coincide with spatial centralization, ownership concentration, and decreasing penetration rates of renewable energy resources in Germany. By presenting new conceptual tools and empirical findings, we trace the ways in which the recovery of dominant capital in the German electricity sector shapes and restricts energy transition processes.

Cultures of Artificial Intelligence. AI Assemblages and the Transformations of Everyday Life

Artificial Intelligence is one of the keywords of our time, and AI systems are currently initiating numerous transformations in various areas of everyday life. How can cultural anthropology at the interface with digital anthropology contribute to understanding these transformations and to shaping social and cultural negotiation processes around AI? To answer this question, this article develops the concept of AI assemblages, which aims to illuminate the dynamics of sociotechnical relations between human and more-than-human actors or elements surrounding AI systems. Assemblage thinking allows to reflect upon and describe numerous ‘small’ transformations of everyday life connected to AI without uncritically reproducing grand narratives of sociotechnical change and upheaval. On a more general level, analyzing AI assemblages is a way to study cultures of AI, that is, to study “a whole way of life” (Williams) in which routines, relationships, and cultural orders are increasingly shaped by AI systems. Three examples illustrate this perspective: AI assemblages in memory culture (virtual survivor testimonies in Holocaust remembrance), in popular culture (social media and their algorithms), and in academic culture (generative AI in academic research and teaching).

Explaining the Dynamics of Transition to an Integrated WEF System: Two Cases of Irrigated Agriculture in Oregon, USA

In recent years, the integrated Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus approach has gained traction as a more effective way to manage these interdependent and essential resources. A growing number of traditional food and water irrigation systems in Oregon, USA are transitioning to modernized, holistic, and sustainable Hydro-Irrigation-Restoration Systems that embrace the WEF Nexus approach (Weber 2017). The question is: what factors explain the successful transition? Two cases of irrigation modernization in Hood River, Oregon demonstrate that system transitions follow a pattern of socio-technical change wherein four structural factors are key: economic incentives, changing values expressed in regulations, technological innovation, and external shocks (e.g., major disasters). Yet, while the structural variables associated with the social-technical change approach are necessary for explaining the transitions to new WEF systems in Hood River, they are not sufficient. The case studies display the crucial importance of individual agency, or the actor dynamics capable of enabling or hindering system transformations (see Van Driel and Schot 2005, 54). Chief among these “agency” factors are (1) facilitative, visionary, trust-worthy leadership, (2) the cultivation of trust and collaborative problem-solving capacity, (3) the willingness to embrace risk and trade short-term costs for the potential of long term gains (e.g., low discount rates), and (4) the adoption of a new set of ideas, or shared norms, governing decision-making which embraced the idea that an integrated, modernized system could simultaneously promote economic, environmental, and energy sustainability.

Evaluating video and hybrid group consultations in general practice: mixed-methods, participatory study protocol (TOGETHER 2)

Background General practice is facing an unprecedented challenge in managing the consequences of the pandemic. In the midst of a policy drive to balance remote and in-person service provision, substantial workload pressures remain, together with increasing prevalence of long-term conditions, and declining staff numbers and morale. To address these challenges, some practices in the UK have been delivering video and hybrid group consultations (VHGCs). Despite positive initial findings and enthusiasm, there are still gaps in our understanding of the influence VHGCs have on patient experience, healthcare utilisation, quality, safety, equity and affordability. Objectives To generate an in-depth understanding of VHGCs for chronic conditions in general practice, surface assumptions and sociotechnical dynamics, inform practice and extend theorisation. Methods Mixed-methods, multi-site research study using co-design and participatory methods, from qualitative, quantitative and cost-related perspectives. WP1 includes a national, cross-sectional survey on VHGC provision across the UK. In WP2 we will engage patients and general practice staff in co-design workshops to develop VHGC models with emphasis on digital inclusion and equity. In WP3 we will carry out a mixed-methods process evaluation in up to 10 GP practices across England (5 sites already running VHGCs and 5 comparison sites). Qualitative methods will include interviews, focus groups and ethnographic observation to examine the experiences of patients, carers, clinical and non-clinical NHS staff, commissioners and policy-makers. Quantitative methods will examine the impact of VHGCs on healthcare utilisation in primary and secondary care, patient satisfaction, engagement and activation. We will also assess value for money of group and individual care models from a health economics perspective. Conclusions We aim to develop transferable learning on sociotechnical change in healthcare delivery, using VHGCs as an exemplar of technology-supported innovation. Findings will also inform the design of a future study.

Le emozioni nel lavoro o il lavoro delle emozioni? Un'analisi sul ruolo delle emozioni nelle pratiche professionali in ambito ospedaliero

The organisational, socio-technical and cultural changes that are affecting the health sector nat-urally also involve the occupational world and the health professions. Among the various changes in the socio-health ecosystem, there are also experiences from a relational point of view, placing the world of the health professions in the so-called affective turn (Leys, 2011). The role of emotions is therefore increasingly decisive, both when they are expressed and when they are latent, to interrogate and analyse the work of health professionals. At the same time, this (positive) emotional turn and the so-called feeling rules could also lead workers (dif-ferentially) to experience a kind of burnout or in other cases forms of cynicism and detach-ment that can be detrimental to both professional identity and patients. The article aims to ana-lyse these aspects through a qualitative investigation conducted within three complex facilities belonging to the Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute.

Caring for Scholarship in Transition

This editorial briefly reflects on the idea of transition—a theme that cuts across energy systems, migration, and education, to name a few—and is likely familiar to many readers. In this issue, we focus on transition within the context of scholarly publishing; maintenance and repair studies; and experimental methods. We reflect on how the Issue’s thematic collection, “Maintenance & its Knowledges” guest edited by Jérôme Denis, Daniel Florentin, and David Pontille, raises ontological questions about the systems we continuously repair and maintain. We also introduce two original research articles, both of which discuss projects that used collaborative ethnography to disrupt normative modes of knowledge generation. Many of the articles in this issue engage the theme of socio-technical change, a classic STS topic that becomes a point of intervention, if at varying scales and using contrasting approaches. Collectively, the Issue can be read as a theory-method buffet that offers tools for working with and through transition.

Co-creating a service ecosystem for supporting digitalization in health and welfare

Health and welfare services are increasingly striving towards data-driven, digital and patient-centric approaches to service management and delivery. The growing digitalization and amount of eHealth services introduced are part of a sociotechnical change in health and social care, where different sectors collaborate in ecosystems. This study focuses on ecosystemic collaboration in health and welfare and its potential in value creation, with a particular interest in how multistakeholder co-creation can be enabled and orchestrated. The study draws on research on service ecosystem design, open innovation and co-creation. The aim of this study is to explore how service ecosystems are co-created by public, private and third-sector organizations in the health and welfare sector. To achieve this aim, our study has two research objectives. First, the study explores current ecosystemic practices in health and welfare. Second, the study identifies factors that affect these practices. This study presents the findings of a qualitative study conducted in Finland in spring 2023 with key informants from the health and welfare sector. The study context revolves around a HEI that provides university level teaching in social and health care and adopts a problem-based pedagogy that is firmly grounded in working-life collaboration with cross-sectoral actors and professional practice in the field. The findings reveal different factors that have an effect on ecosystem collaboration. The findings support the argument that working in ecosystems is beneficial and digitalization has been a key driver of innovation in the health care and welfare sector in Finland. Based on these findings, we discuss the potential of orchestrators, such as HEIs, to co-create service ecosystems that enable digitalization of health and welfare.

How the Public Became the Caller: The Emergence of Reactive Policing, 1880–1970

Abstract Why is the police role so broad in the United States today? Carceral state scholars have investigated how and why policymakers have treated so many social problems as policing problems, but they have not yet recognized the degree to which the call-for-service system has marginalized political control over police strategy. This Article traces the historical sources of this arrangement through extensive archival research into its evolution. We find that over the course of the twentieth century, the rise of new communications technologies gradually shifted the power to decide which problems are proper subjects of police attention to private individuals, eventually channeling their demands through centralized call centers that had been stripped of the authority and contextual knowledge needed to govern them in a meaningful way. That process fundamentally altered the character of public oversight over policing, elevating a distinctive set of individual interests as largely unchallenged determinants of the kinds of situations that are policeable. By illustrating how sociotechnical change unintentionally reallocated the authority to define the scope of an important institution’s mandate, this case sheds new light on the factors that shape the police role and the role the public plays in defining it.

How Sociotechnical Systems Adapt to Change

This paper addresses the topic of the dynamics of sociotechnical change of reproductive technologies and, in particular, the relationship between sociotechnical systems as described by TP Hughes and their environments. The co-production approach and sociotechnical imaginaries defined by S Jasanoff and SH Kim allow to explain the dynamics of technical change through the interweaving of technoscientific and social practices; and the concept of ‘reproductive imaginaries’ provides a better analysis of the back and forth adjustment between the system and its environment in a way that avoids the soft determinism that still persists in traditional accounts of sociotechnical change. I argue that reproductive technologies are co-produced with its environment in dialectical processes through specific technologies and reproductive imaginaries. Finally, I defend that this system performed adaptations even when it is mature.

Building Sustainable Social Housing System: A Singapore Case from New Institutionalism Economics Approach

Policymakers worldwide currently face challenges in planning, regulating, and managing the housing market. One of the primary solutions is the provision of affordable social housing fostering economic development, culture integration, technology empowerment, and social stability. Singapore is recognized as a successful model of well-balanced centralized legislation and market-augmented governance. However, current studies have mainly focused on urban planning and real estate finance fields. A holistic approach should be conducted to understand the effectiveness of the whole framework and policy conduit including affordability, inclusiveness, and connectivity. This study emphasizes the importance of the Housing and Development Board (HDB) governance and analyzes what policies make social housing schemes robust and sustainable by combining the Singapore case with the New Institutionalism Economics (NIE) approach. HDB decreases transaction costs by centralized planning and establishes a transparent system to increase housing affordability and ownership. Inclusiveness is achieved by inter-departmental joint force so that social capital can be maximized for diverse community cohesion. Socio-technical change and institutional evolution have mutual effects on each other for efficiency and connectivity. Digital innovations make sustainable communities and smart cities. As a result, this study proposes a practical framework for learning from Singapore's implications for national governance, institutional development, and policy formulation that holds universal reference value.

Meta-organizations for Sustainability Transformations: Navigating Tensions Between Imperatives of Transition and Meta-organizationality

Abstract How do we change social orders to deliver a sustainable future? A growing literature in organization studies argues that meta-organizations are part of the answer. Meta-organizations have been shown to be well equipped for tackling grand challenges, yet paradoxically they also tend to resist change due to their inertia. In this paper, we move beyond the question of whether and how meta-organizations act as vectors of transition to address the question of how some of the defining organizational attributes of meta-organizations – which we call ‘meta-organizationality’ – create tensions for sustainability transitions. We argue that these tensions result from frictions between the imperatives of transitions, i.e. conditions for achieving broad socio-technical transformations for sustainability, and the imperatives of meta-organizations, i.e. the implications resulting specifically from their meta-organizationality. We unpack four tensions, which we frame as ‘multi-referentiality–directionality’, ‘layering–diffusion’, ‘dialectical actorhood–coordination’, and ‘multi-level decidedness–reflexivity’. We argue that transformative meta-organizations are those that successfully navigate these tensions to produce sociotechnical system changes. This work has several implications for organization studies, meta-organization studies and transition studies, and offers several avenues for research.

Can grassroots movements in water conflicts drive socio-technical transitions in water management systems?

Water conflicts open windows of opportunity for grassroots movements to transform water systems. However, academic fields studying social movements in socio-environmental conflicts are not well equipped to deal with complexity, non-linear dynamics, and emergent properties. Therefore, these fields rarely engage with long-term complex social processes and dynamics leading to systemic socio-technical changes. Researching water conflicts driven by grassroots movements, we ask whether and how the latter can influence a socio-technical transition of a water management regime. Through an emblematic water conflict in Mexico, we analyse the grassroots movement's trajectory since the conflict´s inception by following the dynamic process of developing agency. Our findings show that throughout the conflict, the grassroots movement accumulated and mobilized diverse capitals to initiate water management strategies and practices that catalysed change in the water management regime by stalling the implementation of large infrastructures. Eventually, this led to the inception of a sustainable and just transition.