Institutional pressures and local climate policy isomorphism in Ireland

Abstract

Coercive, mimetic and normative pressures contribute to the tendency for local authorities operating in the same institutional environment to develop increasingly similar policies. This article uses computational text methods to investigate if the organisational language used in Irish local climate policy documents has become more similar over time. Results show that the share of commonly used words in local climate policy documents increases over time, while the proportion of unique words decreases. The share of positive language increases over time, while the sentiments and the policy topics present in the policy documents become more homogeneous. The observed increase in local climate policy isomorphism makes it easier to align local and national goals and to facilitate productive collaboration between different sectors. However, the increased similarity in the organisational language used by local authorities in their policy documents is indicative of groupthink, which can stifle policy experimentation and innovation.