Does Participation Foster Transformation Processes towards Sustainable Energy Systems? A Case Study of the German Energy Transformation
1
Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany
2
University of Münster, 48151 Münster, Germany
Sustainability 2018, 10(11), 4313; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10114313
Received: 26 September 2018 / Revised: 16 November 2018 / Accepted: 18 November 2018 / Published: 21 November 2018
(This article belongs to the Section Energy Sustainability)
Sustainable energy transformation depends on learning processes, which allow us to cope with constantly changing environmental and social systems. Participation processes are viewed as a means of fostering social learning. In this paper, social learning is applied as an analytical concept to investigate the cognitive effects of participation such as knowledge acquisition, changes of perspective, and knowledge dissemination. Previous studies have indicated that certain characteristics of the participation process foster social learning. However, empirical evidence is still inconclusive, which is why this paper investigates which factors foster social learning. An empirical analysis was conducted on the basis of a quantitative online survey (N = 516), which questioned people who are in some way involved in the German energy transformation (Energiewende). The results show that social learning can be enhanced through participation. In particular, moderated processes—which foster a productive exchange, encourage the building of trust among participants, and allow easy access to relevant information—are likely to provide the appropriate conditions for social learning. Personal characteristics such as an individual’s degree of knowledge might have a greater influence on why people change their perspectives than the intensity of participation.
View Full-Text
Keywords:
participation; social learning; Energiewende; sustainable transformation; energy; Germany
▼
Show Figures
Figure 1
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Ernst, A. Does Participation Foster Transformation Processes towards Sustainable Energy Systems? A Case Study of the German Energy Transformation. Sustainability 2018, 10, 4313. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10114313
AMA Style
Ernst A. Does Participation Foster Transformation Processes towards Sustainable Energy Systems? A Case Study of the German Energy Transformation. Sustainability. 2018; 10(11):4313. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10114313
Chicago/Turabian StyleErnst, Anna. 2018. "Does Participation Foster Transformation Processes towards Sustainable Energy Systems? A Case Study of the German Energy Transformation" Sustainability 10, no. 11: 4313. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10114313
Find Other Styles
Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.
