Citizens’ participation in local energy communities: the role of technology as a stimulus

Because of their focus on the acquisition of new technologies, local energy communities are increasingly being recognised as major players in the current energy transition and revealing the valuable role of technological solutions in sustainable development. Nevertheless, the success of these communities is not limited to the acquisition of technologies. Instead, it is strongly dependent on citizen participation. Prior literature has focused much more on the institutional and policy factors than on the roles of citizens and their participation in such communities, and indirectly on sustainability. To address the lack, this study aims to explain the determinants of citizen participation in local energy communities by developing a research model grounded on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) framework, and then through a mixed-methods design, study the impact of technological factors as a stimulus on more social outcomes, namely the organism and response behaviours. Our results highlight the strong impact of sustainable technologies and gamification in citizens’ attitudes. Moreover, the research model reveals a strong influence of empowerment and pro-environmental behaviour in the citizen intention to participate in local energy communities.