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Non‐governmental organisations and universities as transition intermediaries in sustainability transformations building on grassroots initiatives
Author(s) -
Wolf Patricia,
Harboe Julie,
Sudbrack Rothbarth Catherine,
Gaudenz Urs,
Arsan Leyla,
Obrist Chris,
Leeuwen Ma
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
creativity and innovation management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.148
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1467-8691
pISSN - 0963-1690
DOI - 10.1111/caim.12425
Subject(s) - grassroots , sustainability , intermediary , context (archaeology) , conceptual framework , niche , business , public relations , face (sociological concept) , knowledge management , political science , marketing , sociology , politics , ecology , social science , computer science , geography , archaeology , law , biology
Although niche grassroots initiatives can push bottom‐up sustainability transitions, they can face problems in forming a more global niche and in scaling their innovative solutions to a regime level. A thorough literature review shows scholarly agreement on the assumption that universities and non‐governmental organisations (NGOs) can support sustainability transition in the acceleration phase by intermediating within niches and between niches and regimes. As in‐depth research and a reality check on successful intermediary strategies in this context are still lacking, this paper aims to contribute to a conceptual framework that integrates the NGOs and universities expected activities in existing literature and relates them to one another. We develop such a framework and test it in three case studies from the plastic revaluation field, comparing and drawing on the perspectives of niche, intermediary and regime actors. Findings confirm the conceptual framework and suggest changes and extensions. We enhance existing knowledge by providing detailed insights into successful intermediary activities in these innovation systems and draw conclusions for policymakers.