Home field advantage: examining incumbency reorientation dynamics in low-carbon transitions

• Published in: Environmental innovation and societal transitions 2024-03, Vol.50, p.100802, Article 100802
• Main Authors: Ertelt, Sophie-Marie, Kask, Johan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Incumbency; Low-carbon transition; Multi-system interactions; Regime change; System reconfigurations
• ISSN: 2210-4224; 2210-4232; 2210-4232
• DOI: 10.1016/j.eist.2023.100802

•Proposes a multi-system reorientation framework to uncover incumbency reorientation dynamics.•Utilises organisational fields as a methodological construct to examine rule-regime changes.•Rule-regimes represent dynamic sites of conflict where actors develop collective rationalities.•Field-level relationship patterns shape the direction of system reconfigurations.•Stresses a need to move from single-system-focused policy to multi-system governance approaches. Recent work has offered a more nuanced view of incumbent actors' roles in transitions, yet a comprehensive understanding of how reorientation activities and subsequent interaction patterns among different incumbent actor types shape the direction of system reconfigurations remains underexplored. This paper proposes a framework for empirically assessing actors' relational dynamics in response to low-carbon transitions and conceptualises actor interaction types and the nature of their interaction. Through a case study of the low-carbon transition of road freight transport in Sweden, we examine how reorientation dynamics, e.g., coalitions, competition, and contestations, can facilitate and hinder system reconfigurations by creating regime tensions. Our study highlights that incumbency reorientations are multi-dimensional, with actor involvement and strategies varying, leading to divergent actor positions and role constellations as actors attempt to reconfigure the focal regime. Extending beyond the Swedish case, five avenues for future research are outlined.