IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i5p2821-d511181.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Debate If Agents Matter vs. the System Matters in Sustainability Transitions—A Review of the Literature

Author

Listed:
  • Katariina Koistinen

    (Management and Organization, Department of Management and Entrepreneurship, Turku School of Economics, University of Turku, 20500 Turku, Finland
    Sustainability Science, School of Energy Systems, LUT University, 15210 Lahti, Finland)

  • Satu Teerikangas

    (Management and Organization, Department of Management and Entrepreneurship, Turku School of Economics, University of Turku, 20500 Turku, Finland
    The Bartlett School of Construction & Project Management, Faculty of the Built Environment, University College London, London WC1E7HB, UK)

Abstract

Transition studies is a growing discipline for addressing sustainability challenges. Traditionally, its focus has been at the system level. However, addressing sustainability challenges also requires attending to the role of agents in sustainability transitions. This is the focus adopted in this paper. We review the literature on agency in sustainability transitions, based on 77 journal articles on sustainability transitions listed in Scopus from 2014 to 2018. We find that agency is increasingly explored in the sustainability transitions literature. Despite this growing interest, this body of knowledge remains scattered in regard to typologies or theoretical framings. Our review leads us to identify three recurring themes. One theme drew our attention in particular: the transition research community is divided into those who argue that agency is sufficiently embedded in the transition literature and those who oppose this argument. Going forward, the dynamics of individual-level agency, including behaviors and motivation, deserve further attention.

Suggested Citation

  • Katariina Koistinen & Satu Teerikangas, 2021. "The Debate If Agents Matter vs. the System Matters in Sustainability Transitions—A Review of the Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-32, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:5:p:2821-:d:511181
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/5/2821/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/5/2821/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dosi, Giovanni, 1993. "Technological paradigms and technological trajectories : A suggested interpretation of the determinants and directions of technical change," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 102-103, April.
    2. Lori Stahlbrand, 2016. "The Food For Life Catering Mark: Implementing the Sustainability Transition in University Food Procurement," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-19, September.
    3. Werbeloff, Lara & Brown, Rebekah R. & Loorbach, Derk, 2016. "Pathways of system transformation: Strategic agency to support regime change," Environmental Science & Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 119-128.
    4. Leen Gorissen & Karl Vrancken & Saskia Manshoven, 2016. "Transition Thinking and Business Model Innovation–Towards a Transformative Business Model and New Role for the Reuse Centers of Limburg, Belgium," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-23, January.
    5. Fagerberg, Jan, 2018. "Mobilizing innovation for sustainability transitions: A comment on transformative innovation policy," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(9), pages 1568-1576.
    6. Filippo Randelli & Benedetto Rocchi, 2015. "Analysing the role of consumers within Technological Innovation Systems towards sustainability: the case of Alternative Food Networks," Working Papers - Business wp2015_03.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    7. Markard, Jochen & Raven, Rob & Truffer, Bernhard, 2012. "Sustainability transitions: An emerging field of research and its prospects," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 955-967.
    8. Jean-François Mercure, 2015. "An age structured demographic theory of technological change," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 787-820, September.
    9. Nihit Goyal & Michael Howlett, 2018. "Technology and Instrument Constituencies as Agents of Innovation: Sustainability Transitions and the Governance of Urban Transport," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-14, May.
    10. Kuhmonen, Tuomas, 2017. "Exposing the attractors of evolving complex adaptive systems by utilising futures images: Milestones of the food sustainability journey," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 214-225.
    11. Sorrell, Steve, 2015. "Reducing energy demand: A review of issues, challenges and approaches," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 74-82.
    12. Pigford, Ashlee-Ann E. & Hickey, Gordon M. & Klerkx, Laurens, 2018. "Beyond agricultural innovation systems? Exploring an agricultural innovation ecosystems approach for niche design and development in sustainability transitions," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 116-121.
    13. Katja Brundiers & Hallie C. Eakin, 2018. "Leveraging Post-Disaster Windows of Opportunities for Change towards Sustainability: A Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-18, May.
    14. Merrie, Andrew & Olsson, Per, 2014. "An innovation and agency perspective on the emergence and spread of Marine Spatial Planning," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 366-374.
    15. Andy Stirling, 2014. "Transforming Power: social science and the politics of energy choices," SPRU Working Paper Series 2014-03, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    16. Hannah Pitt & Mat Jones, 2016. "Scaling up and out as a Pathway for Food System Transitions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-16, October.
    17. Kuokkanen, A. & Nurmi, A. & Mikkilä, M. & Kuisma, M. & Kahiluoto, H. & Linnanen, L., 2018. "Agency in regime destabilization through the selection environment: The Finnish food system’s sustainability transition," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(8), pages 1513-1522.
    18. J. -F. Mercure & H. Pollitt & A. M. Bassi & J. E Vi~nuales & N. R. Edwards, 2015. "Modelling complex systems of heterogeneous agents to better design sustainability transitions policy," Papers 1506.07432, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2016.
    19. Lisa-Britt Fischer & Jens Newig, 2016. "Importance of Actors and Agency in Sustainability Transitions: A Systematic Exploration of the Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-21, May.
    20. Levänen, Jarkko & Eloneva, Sanni, 2017. "Fighting sustainability challenges on two fronts: Material efficiency and the emerging carbon capture and storage technologies," Environmental Science & Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 131-138.
    21. Geels, Frank W., 2010. "Ontologies, socio-technical transitions (to sustainability), and the multi-level perspective," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 495-510, May.
    22. Järnberg, Linn & Enfors Kautsky, Elin & Dagerskog, Linus & Olsson, Per, 2018. "Green niche actors navigating an opaque opportunity context: Prospects for a sustainable transformation of Ethiopian agriculture," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 409-421.
    23. Lorenzo Chelleri & Harn Wei Kua & Juan Pablo Rodríguez Sánchez & Kh Md Nahiduzzaman & Gladman Thondhlana, 2016. "Are People Responsive to a More Sustainable, Decentralized, and User-Driven Management of Urban Metabolism?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-12, March.
    24. de Gooyert, Vincent & Rouwette, Etiënne & van Kranenburg, Hans & Freeman, Edward & van Breen, Harry, 2016. "Sustainability transition dynamics: Towards overcoming policy resistance," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 135-145.
    25. Hermans, Frans & Roep, Dirk & Klerkx, Laurens, 2016. "Scale dynamics of grassroots innovations through parallel pathways of transformative change," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 285-295.
    26. Pesch, Udo, 2015. "Tracing discursive space: Agency and change in sustainability transitions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 90(PB), pages 379-388.
    27. Guillaume Ollivier & Daniele Magda & Armelle Mazé & Gaël Plumecocq & Claire Lamine, 2018. "Agroecological transitions: what can sustainability transition frameworks teach us? An ontological and empirical analysis," Post-Print hal-02622145, HAL.
    28. Mónica Ramos-Mejía & Alejandro Balanzo, 2018. "What It Takes to Lead Sustainability Transitions from the Bottom-Up: Strategic Interactions of Grassroots Ecopreneurs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-20, July.
    29. Gesa Pflitsch & Verena Radinger-Peer, 2018. "Developing Boundary-Spanning Capacity for Regional Sustainability Transitions—A Comparative Case Study of the Universities of Augsburg (Germany) and Linz (Austria)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-26, March.
    30. Rachael Durrant & Jacob Barnes & Florian Kern & Gordon Mackerron, 2018. "The acceleration of transitions to urban sustainability: a case study of Brighton and Hove," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(8), pages 1537-1558, August.
    31. Bettini, Yvette & Brown, Rebekah R. & de Haan, Fjalar J. & Farrelly, Megan, 2015. "Understanding institutional capacity for urban water transitions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 65-79.
    32. Marc Wolfram & Niki Frantzeskaki, 2016. "Cities and Systemic Change for Sustainability: Prevailing Epistemologies and an Emerging Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-18, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hamid El Bilali, 2020. "Transition heuristic frameworks in research on agro-food sustainability transitions," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 1693-1728, March.
    2. Hamid El Bilali, 2019. "Research on agro-food sustainability transitions: where are food security and nutrition?," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 11(3), pages 559-577, June.
    3. Contesse, Maria & Duncan, Jessica & Legun, Katharine & Klerkx, Laurens, 2021. "Unravelling non-human agency in sustainability transitions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    4. Kuokkanen, A. & Nurmi, A. & Mikkilä, M. & Kuisma, M. & Kahiluoto, H. & Linnanen, L., 2018. "Agency in regime destabilization through the selection environment: The Finnish food system’s sustainability transition," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(8), pages 1513-1522.
    5. Hamid El Bilali, 2019. "The Multi-Level Perspective in Research on Sustainability Transitions in Agriculture and Food Systems: A Systematic Review," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-24, April.
    6. Kristiaan P. W. Kok & Alanya C. L. den Boer & Tomris Cesuroglu & Marjoleine G. van der Meij & Renée de Wildt-Liesveld & Barbara J. Regeer & Jacqueline E. W. Broerse, 2019. "Transforming Research and Innovation for Sustainable Food Systems—A Coupled-Systems Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-23, December.
    7. Mahir Yazar & Dina Hestad & Diana Mangalagiu & Yuge Ma & Thomas F Thornton & Ali Kerem Saysel & Dajian Zhu, 2020. "Enabling environments for regime destabilization towards sustainable urban transitions in megacities: comparing Shanghai and Istanbul," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 160(4), pages 727-752, June.
    8. Inga C. Melchior & Jens Newig, 2021. "Governing Transitions towards Sustainable Agriculture—Taking Stock of an Emerging Field of Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-27, January.
    9. Rosalba Ortiz & Jordi Peris, 2022. "The Role of Farmers’ Umbrella Organizations in Building Transformative Capacity around Grassroots Innovations in Rural Agri-Food Systems in Guatemala," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-25, February.
    10. Zolfagharian, Mohammadreza & Walrave, Bob & Raven, Rob & Romme, A. Georges L., 2019. "Studying transitions: Past, present, and future," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(9), pages 1-1.
    11. Valeria Borsellino & Emanuele Schimmenti & Hamid El Bilali, 2020. "Agri-Food Markets towards Sustainable Patterns," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-35, March.
    12. Aditi Khodke & Atsushi Watabe & Nigel Mehdi, 2021. "Implementation of Accelerated Policy-Driven Sustainability Transitions: Case of Bharat Stage 4 to 6 Leapfrogs in India," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-25, April.
    13. Strambach, Simone & Pflitsch, Gesa, 2020. "Transition topology: Capturing institutional dynamics in regional development paths to sustainability," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(7).
    14. Sebastian Fastenrath & Boris Braun, 2018. "Lost in Transition? Directions for an Economic Geography of Urban Sustainability Transitions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-17, July.
    15. Miranda, Bruno Varella & Monteiro, Guilherme Fowler A. & Rodrigues, Vinicius Picanço, 2021. "Circular agri-food systems: A governance perspective for the analysis of sustainable agri-food value chains," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    16. Gürsan, C. & de Gooyert, V., 2021. "The systemic impact of a transition fuel: Does natural gas help or hinder the energy transition?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    17. Joana Ramanauskaitė, 2021. "The Role of Incumbent Actors in Sustainability Transitions: A Case of LITHUANIA," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-19, November.
    18. Fabíola Sostmeyer Polita & Lívia Madureira, 2021. "Transition Pathways of Agroecological Innovation in Portugal’s Douro Wine Region. A Multi-Level Perspective," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-20, March.
    19. Naama Teschner & Daniel E. Orenstein, 2022. "A transdisciplinary study of agroecological niches: understanding sustainability transitions in vineyards," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(1), pages 33-45, March.
    20. Attila Havas & Doris Schartinger & K. Matthias Weber, 2022. "Innovation Studies, Social Innovation, and Sustainability Transitions Research: From mutual ignorance towards an integrative perspective?," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 2227, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:5:p:2821-:d:511181. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.