Assessing transitions through socio-technical configuration analysis – a methodological framework and a case study in the water sector

Jonas Heiberg; Bernhard Truffer; Christian Binz

doi:10.1016/j.respol.2021.104363

Assessing transitions through socio-technical configuration analysis – a methodological framework and a case study in the water sector

Jonas Heiberg^*, Bernhard Truffer, Christian Binz

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Classic accounts of transitions research have predominantly built on reconstructions of historical transition processes and in-depth case studies to identify and conceptualize socio-technical change. While such approaches have substantively improved our understanding of transitions, they often suffer from methodological nationalism and a lack of generalizability beyond spatial and sectoral boundaries. To address this gap, we propose a novel methodology – socio-technical configuration analysis (STCA) – to map and measure socio-technical alignment processes across time and space. STCA provides a configurational and dynamic perspective on how social and technical elements get aligned into “configurations that work”, allowing for the identification of differentiated transition trajectories at and across spatial and sectoral contexts. The methodology's value is illustrated with the empirical case of an ongoing shift from centralized to more modular infrastructure configurations in the global water sector. Building on this illustration, we outline potential contributions of STCA to configurational theorizing in transition studies, sketching the contours of what we believe could become a generative epistemological approach for this field.

Original language	English
Article number	104363
Pages (from-to)	1-19
Journal	Research Policy
Volume	51
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2021.104363
Publication status	Published - Jan 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Earlier ideas and versions of this paper have been presented at the IST conference in Manchester, 2018, at the EGOS conference in Hamburg, 2020, as well as at the IST conference in Vienna, 2020. In particular, we would like to thank our research assistant Atay Kozlovski, who has contributed to the qualitative content analysis of the empirical data. We further thank the following individuals for their help and support with the development of the ideas presented in this paper: Manuel Fischer, Mario Angst, Koen Frenken, Ron Boschma, Xiaoshan Yap, Johan Miörner, Lea Fünfschilling, Huiwen Gong, Birthe Soppe, Jochen Markard, as well as our colleagues at the Environmental Social Science Department at Eawag. The paper has furthermore strongly benefitted from comments on an earlier draft by two anonymous reviewers and by the editors of Research Policy. This research was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) within the National Research Programme “Sustainable Economy: resource-friendly, future-oriented, innovative” (NRP 73) Grant No. 407340_172366, as well as from SNSF Grant No. 10001A_179219 / 1. Any remaining shortcomings remain, of course, our own.

Funding Information:
Earlier ideas and versions of this paper have been presented at the IST conference in Manchester, 2018, at the EGOS conference in Hamburg, 2020, as well as at the IST conference in Vienna, 2020. In particular, we would like to thank our research assistant Atay Kozlovski, who has contributed to the qualitative content analysis of the empirical data. We further thank the following individuals for their help and support with the development of the ideas presented in this paper: Manuel Fischer, Mario Angst, Koen Frenken, Ron Boschma, Xiaoshan Yap, Johan Miörner, Lea Fünfschilling, Huiwen Gong, Birthe Soppe, Jochen Markard, as well as our colleagues at the Environmental Social Science Department at Eawag. The paper has furthermore strongly benefitted from comments on an earlier draft by two anonymous reviewers and by the editors of Research Policy. This research was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) within the National Research Programme “Sustainable Economy: resource-friendly, future-oriented, innovative” (NRP 73) Grant No. 407340_172366, as well as from SNSF Grant No. 10001A_179219 / 1. Any remaining shortcomings remain, of course, our own.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021

Funding

Earlier ideas and versions of this paper have been presented at the IST conference in Manchester, 2018, at the EGOS conference in Hamburg, 2020, as well as at the IST conference in Vienna, 2020. In particular, we would like to thank our research assistant Atay Kozlovski, who has contributed to the qualitative content analysis of the empirical data. We further thank the following individuals for their help and support with the development of the ideas presented in this paper: Manuel Fischer, Mario Angst, Koen Frenken, Ron Boschma, Xiaoshan Yap, Johan Mi?rner, Lea F?nfschilling, Huiwen Gong, Birthe Soppe, Jochen Markard, as well as our colleagues at the Environmental Social Science Department at Eawag. The paper has furthermore strongly benefitted from comments on an earlier draft by two anonymous reviewers and by the editors of Research Policy. This research was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) within the National Research Programme ?Sustainable Economy: resource-friendly, future-oriented, innovative? (NRP 73) Grant No. 407340_172366, as well as from SNSF Grant No. 10001A_179219 / 1. Any remaining shortcomings remain, of course, our own. Earlier ideas and versions of this paper have been presented at the IST conference in Manchester, 2018, at the EGOS conference in Hamburg, 2020, as well as at the IST conference in Vienna, 2020. In particular, we would like to thank our research assistant Atay Kozlovski, who has contributed to the qualitative content analysis of the empirical data. We further thank the following individuals for their help and support with the development of the ideas presented in this paper: Manuel Fischer, Mario Angst, Koen Frenken, Ron Boschma, Xiaoshan Yap, Johan Miörner, Lea Fünfschilling, Huiwen Gong, Birthe Soppe, Jochen Markard, as well as our colleagues at the Environmental Social Science Department at Eawag. The paper has furthermore strongly benefitted from comments on an earlier draft by two anonymous reviewers and by the editors of Research Policy. This research was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) within the National Research Programme “Sustainable Economy: resource-friendly, future-oriented, innovative” (NRP 73) Grant No. 407340_172366, as well as from SNSF Grant No. 10001A_179219 / 1. Any remaining shortcomings remain, of course, our own.

Keywords

Discourse
Geography of transitions
Modular water technologies
Socio-technical alignments
Socio-technical configuration analysis

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10.1016/j.respol.2021.104363Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

1-s2.0-S0048733321001608-mainFinal published version, 6.25 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

@article{6b033cd385ca466993dea673525f466e,

title = "Assessing transitions through socio-technical configuration analysis – a methodological framework and a case study in the water sector",

abstract = "Classic accounts of transitions research have predominantly built on reconstructions of historical transition processes and in-depth case studies to identify and conceptualize socio-technical change. While such approaches have substantively improved our understanding of transitions, they often suffer from methodological nationalism and a lack of generalizability beyond spatial and sectoral boundaries. To address this gap, we propose a novel methodology – socio-technical configuration analysis (STCA) – to map and measure socio-technical alignment processes across time and space. STCA provides a configurational and dynamic perspective on how social and technical elements get aligned into “configurations that work”, allowing for the identification of differentiated transition trajectories at and across spatial and sectoral contexts. The methodology's value is illustrated with the empirical case of an ongoing shift from centralized to more modular infrastructure configurations in the global water sector. Building on this illustration, we outline potential contributions of STCA to configurational theorizing in transition studies, sketching the contours of what we believe could become a generative epistemological approach for this field.",

keywords = "Discourse, Geography of transitions, Modular water technologies, Socio-technical alignments, Socio-technical configuration analysis",

author = "Jonas Heiberg and Bernhard Truffer and Christian Binz",

note = "Funding Information: Earlier ideas and versions of this paper have been presented at the IST conference in Manchester, 2018, at the EGOS conference in Hamburg, 2020, as well as at the IST conference in Vienna, 2020. In particular, we would like to thank our research assistant Atay Kozlovski, who has contributed to the qualitative content analysis of the empirical data. We further thank the following individuals for their help and support with the development of the ideas presented in this paper: Manuel Fischer, Mario Angst, Koen Frenken, Ron Boschma, Xiaoshan Yap, Johan Mi{\"o}rner, Lea F{\"u}nfschilling, Huiwen Gong, Birthe Soppe, Jochen Markard, as well as our colleagues at the Environmental Social Science Department at Eawag. The paper has furthermore strongly benefitted from comments on an earlier draft by two anonymous reviewers and by the editors of Research Policy. This research was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) within the National Research Programme “Sustainable Economy: resource-friendly, future-oriented, innovative” (NRP 73) Grant No. 407340_172366, as well as from SNSF Grant No. 10001A_179219 / 1. Any remaining shortcomings remain, of course, our own. Funding Information: Earlier ideas and versions of this paper have been presented at the IST conference in Manchester, 2018, at the EGOS conference in Hamburg, 2020, as well as at the IST conference in Vienna, 2020. In particular, we would like to thank our research assistant Atay Kozlovski, who has contributed to the qualitative content analysis of the empirical data. We further thank the following individuals for their help and support with the development of the ideas presented in this paper: Manuel Fischer, Mario Angst, Koen Frenken, Ron Boschma, Xiaoshan Yap, Johan Mi{\"o}rner, Lea F{\"u}nfschilling, Huiwen Gong, Birthe Soppe, Jochen Markard, as well as our colleagues at the Environmental Social Science Department at Eawag. The paper has furthermore strongly benefitted from comments on an earlier draft by two anonymous reviewers and by the editors of Research Policy. This research was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) within the National Research Programme “Sustainable Economy: resource-friendly, future-oriented, innovative” (NRP 73) Grant No. 407340_172366, as well as from SNSF Grant No. 10001A_179219 / 1. Any remaining shortcomings remain, of course, our own. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021",

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doi = "10.1016/j.respol.2021.104363",

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N2 - Classic accounts of transitions research have predominantly built on reconstructions of historical transition processes and in-depth case studies to identify and conceptualize socio-technical change. While such approaches have substantively improved our understanding of transitions, they often suffer from methodological nationalism and a lack of generalizability beyond spatial and sectoral boundaries. To address this gap, we propose a novel methodology – socio-technical configuration analysis (STCA) – to map and measure socio-technical alignment processes across time and space. STCA provides a configurational and dynamic perspective on how social and technical elements get aligned into “configurations that work”, allowing for the identification of differentiated transition trajectories at and across spatial and sectoral contexts. The methodology's value is illustrated with the empirical case of an ongoing shift from centralized to more modular infrastructure configurations in the global water sector. Building on this illustration, we outline potential contributions of STCA to configurational theorizing in transition studies, sketching the contours of what we believe could become a generative epistemological approach for this field.

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KW - Modular water technologies

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Assessing transitions through socio-technical configuration analysis – a methodological framework and a case study in the water sector

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

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