Dunker, Philipp (2024) The Effect of Public Participation on the Acceptability of Sustainable Energy Policies and Their Development Process – The Mediating Role of Perceived Representation. Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
To realize a successful transition toward essential sustainable energy systems, public acceptability of energy policies is imperative and must be reinforced through, for example, increasing public participation in decision-making practices. This study compared the acceptability of a bottom-up procedure to a top-down procedure regarding policy recommendations for the future Dutch energy system. Furthermore, perceived societal representation was introduced as a mediator of these effects to explore underlying mechanisms of public acceptability in participatory processes. An online experiment with 200 participants and a 1x2 between subject experimental design was conducted. Policy recommendations were presented as developed by a citizen assembly or by a governmental working group. I expected a bottom-up development process to be associated with higher project and process acceptability. Second, I anticipated lower perceived personal representation and higher perceived societal representation in the bottom-up condition. Lastly, I expected perceived societal representation to mediate the relationships between a bottom-up process and project as well as process acceptability. In line with my expectations, the results showed a positive effect of a bottom-up process on project and process acceptability. Both perceived societal and personal representation were stronger in the bottom-up condition compared to the top-down condition. Additionally, mediation effects of perceived societal and personal representation were found. This work supports earlier findings that a bottom-up policy development approach can foster public acceptability of sustainable energy policies and highlights the role of perceived societal and personal representation in this relationship. Keywords: public participation, acceptability, policy development process, energy system, perceived representation
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Gorter, W.A. and Jans, L. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Environmental Psychology (EP) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 25 Jul 2024 06:26 |
| Last Modified: | 25 Jul 2024 06:26 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/4140 |
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