Project-oriented agency and regeneration in socio-technical transition: Insights from the case of numerical weather prediction (1978–2015)

Sylvain Lenfle and Jonas Söderlund

Research Policy, 2022, vol. 51, issue 3

Abstract: This paper analyzes the unfolding of socio-technical transition (STT) using the multi-level perspective (MLP) framework. It relies on an in-depth case study of the “quiet revolution” of numerical weather prediction. The study reveals how key actors targeted the reverse salient of data assimilation and thereby facilitated the transition toward a new “variational” regime. In so doing, the paper makes three contributions to the STT literature: (1) it identifies a new type of transition pathway, “regeneration,” in which the regime transforms itself from within, despite the lack of changes in landscape pressure, to overcome internal tensions; (2) it showcases “project-oriented agency” as the central mechanism of this transition, which allows the actors to join forces and cooperate to counteract the reverse salient; and (3) it proposes a process model of project-oriented agency that accounts for the role of the reverse salient in the regeneration pathway.

Keywords: Socio-technical transition; Regeneration; Multi-level perspective; Reverse salient; Project-oriented agency; Data assimilation; Weather forecasting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:respol:v:51:y:2022:i:3:s004873332100247x

DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2021.104455

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