Sociotechnical Perspectives on Technological Development

Abstract

In this chapter, we introduce sociotechnical perspectives on innovation processes and decision making in organizations in relation to their constituent institutions and communities of practice (CoP). We discuss how an energy system can be seen as a sociotechnical system in which technological and social factors are mutually dependent, coexisting in a seamless web. New ideas that develop and change the system can be treated as innovation processes. In this chapter, we pay special attention to the multi-level model of innovation that seeks to explain transition in sociotechnical systems. To fully understand change in sociotechnical systems, we also introduce institutional theory, which examines the formal and informal rules that influence actors and organizations and are vital parts of a system. We end this chapter by discussing communities of practice theory, which acknowledges that actors act and make decisions in particular contexts, influenced by values and norms established in groups—something also central to the multi- level model. 4.1