Abstract

I investigate the case of the emergence and evolution of the smart energy systems frame in the UK electricity industry from 2008 to 2017 to understand how the meanings associated with sustainability-driven technologies are defined, interpreted, evolved, and may change the field frame. Furthermore, how the hegemonization of powerful actors unfolds in the process of technological and institutional meaning-making and slows down the process of radical institutional change. Theoretically, I draw on the institutional theory, emphasizing the process of the social construction of meaning (Berger & Luckmann, 1966; Zilber, 2008) within organizational fields, framing literature (Benford &Snow, 2000), and neo-Gramscian theory of hegemony (Levy & Egan, 2003).
Based on a longitudinal qualitative study, I elaborate on three main processes (Elite theorization, Industry translation and experimentation, and Deliberation) through which various actors shape, experiment with, and challenge new collective technological frames to form a new field frame. I also elaborate on two processes of hegemonization and pluralization that counteract each other in the process of institutional change. Particularly, I contribute to the hegemony and institutional change theory by introducing concepts of Inter-institutional versus intra-institutional hegemonization and Inter-institutional versus intra-institutional pluralization. Inter-institutional hegemonization refers to the use of material and discursive elements by central actors and fossil-fuel energy providers to maintain the current field-level institutional system, secure non-renewable energy sources such as nuclear energy and gas in the industry value chain, and justify the continuation of investment in traditional technologies. In this way, they slow down or deviate the transition from the current field frame to the new field frame of smart and low-carbon energy systems. On the other hand, intra-institutional hegemonization refers to constructing the hegemony within the new field frame of the low-carbon smart and flexible energy system. In this kind of hegemonization, energy companies and central and powerful actors explicitly support sustainability transition and invest in renewable and smart technologies but draw on various discourses and mechanisms to marginalize other pathways of decarbonization and reinforce the centralized and large-scale energy system where they can maintain their market hegemony.