How will I know about local energy projects? A conjoint-analysis of communication preferences in Germany

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102016Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Communication needs regarding Energy/Infrastructure Projects in different contexts.

  • Conjoint Study of communication needs focusing user diversity and context.

  • Point in time of information and informing authority had the strongest weight.

  • Role of protest motivation on decision patterns regarding communication aspects.

  • Requirements varied per context, cross-context decision patterns were also found.

Abstract

In an interconnected world like ours, boundaries between nations and between political, economic, and ecological challenges fade away. Within renewable energy and infrastructure projects, fields of tension evolve between global goals and local worries, and often protest arises. Communication strategies can be a way to involve citizens in project development and to build a dialogue instead of hardened fronts. However, it is unclear whether communication requirements and willingness to protest are connected and to which extent communication strategies help to create and shape a dialogue between potential protesters and other stakeholders. A conjoint approach was chosen to determine relationships between communication and protest motivation in the energy context. We compare this with mobility infrastructure and local political projects as examples, to find out whether results are unique or generalizable.

Overall, we found generalizable aspects, that are the same for the energy and the example contexts. Point in time, informing person and participation were relevant decision criteria, whereas information channel was the least important independent communication criterion for all contexts. Two essential decision patterns were identified focusing either on source or on time of information. These patterns were influenced by diverse individual factors, e.g. age and protest experience.

Introduction

Today, we are confronted with problems and challenges that require global thinking, action, and solutions. A drastic example is climate change. Its consequences affect the entire planet, and to fight it is a task that affects people on an individual level. An example for this is the implementation of renewable energies and the promotion of energy transition, which must be realized on a local level [1], [2].

Renewable energy transition is one component of several (e.g., changes in consumption and nutritional behavior, changes in traffic, or in ecological industries) to fight global warming. It is an example of how the solution to this global problem directly affects the individual and it illustrates why public acceptance is important in this context. In general, the global public supports the realization of novel forms of renewable energy generation [3], [4]. But when concrete projects are realized, people start criticizing them and oppose outcomes, planning, risks, and costs of such projects [5], [6]. Frequently, the public feels inadequately informed about necessary steps, possible risks, and project costs that might affect them [7], [8]. One major point of criticism often refers to poor communication in this regard, leading to feelings of distrust of stakeholders and decision makers [5].

Consequently, such projects often have to face a lack of acceptance and are confronted with protests of local residents, which sometimes leads to the failure of implementing renewable energy or infrastructure projects [9], [10]. Especially in the context of renewable energy projects, social acceptance is a crucial prerequisite for a successful implementation process [e.g., [8]]. A lack of acceptance and not taking serious concerns of the population into account, potentially increases the probability of protests [6], [11]. Thus, the occurrence of protest might be prevented by taking points of view, fears, and worries of project opponents seriously and by involving them in project communication [12], [13].

A deeper understanding of factors that influence protest as a social phenomenon is necessary – particularly in the context of renewable energy and infrastructure projects. A broad range of studies have examined the role of different energy technologies [14], user diversity [e.g., [15]], siting preferences [e.g., [16]] as well as information and communication strategies, with regard to the acceptance of renewable energy projects [e.g., [12], [13], [17], [18]]. However, those studies do not explicitly focus on protest, and its role in energy and infrastructure projects.

Protest is an important part of democratic participation and it represents a social communication process in line with societal changes and transitions [19], [20]. Thus, due to its essential role for societal changes, protest should not be prevented in general. Instead, the positive potential of protest might be used to find creative and successful solutions leading to an added value for all involved [16], [21].

The dialog between project leaders and its opponents as an exchange of arguments and perspectives might lead to the development of compromises and solutions that suit all affected stakeholders [16], [21]. Compromises that lead to a successful and societally anticipated implementation and realization of energy and infrastructure projects are appreciable for all parties involved [22]. Hence, an investigation should focus on relevant project communication needs, whilst taking protest and the needs of the affected population into account.

So far, most studies that compare protest in different thematic contexts, or focus on the influence of communication aspects that may shape the occurrence and the extent of protest, do this in retrospection.

In this paper, we examine the interplay and weighing of communication requirements. The major focus of the paper is to highlight communication and attitude related factors in the energy context- contrasting this with mobility infrastructure and local politics contexts. The goal is to find out whether specific communication and attitude patterns are relevant specifically in the context of energy projects or if they are generalizable.

Section snippets

Theoretical background

Energy and infrastructure projects often are confronted with distrust and skepticism coming from the local population [e.g., [9], [18], [23]]. Political legitimization is not warranting acceptance in the population [24]. A lack of acceptance alone, does not automatically lead to protest, but it does lead to a negative perception of a project. According to Schweizer-Ries [25] acceptance arises along two axes, one being evaluation and the other being action. While the evaluation axis runs from

Methodology

In the following section, the applied methodology, the selection of relevant communication aspects, and the research design are presented in detail. Afterwards, data analysis and the characteristics of the sample are described.

Results

The results are presented for three different contexts of large-scale projects. First, the relative importance of attributes referring to communication needs in the context of large-scale projects are presented. Afterwards, the specific characteristics (attribute levels) and their relevance for the scenario selections and decisions are described. In the last step, user factors are investigated.

Discussion

The majority of infrastructure planning faces enormously complex communication settings: At which point in time is which information needed for the respective stakeholders that are affected by the infrastructure planning and how does it roll out in their direct living environment? Also, it is an issue which authority is in charge when it comes to an adequate information procedure, and which authority is perceived as trustworthy.

In this paper, we therefore examined the interplay and weighing of

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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