Don't forget the locals: Understanding citizens' acceptance of bio-based technologies

Janine Macht, Jeanette Klink-Lehmann and Monika Hartmann

Technology in Society, 2023, vol. 74, issue C

Abstract: Bio-based technologies such as biorefineries and aquaponics are considered key factors for the transition towards a sustainable bioeconomy, but they may fail due to a lack of public acceptance. The present study explores the level and determinants of citizens' general and local acceptance of two technologies (biorefineries and aquaponics) in two regions (a transition and a non-transition region). Furthermore, the relevance of key determinants, – more specifically social trust, affect, and perceived benefits and risks – in predicting acceptance are explored using partial-least-squares structural equation modeling. In total, 1989 participants from the transition region Rheinische Revier and other non-transition regions of the German state of North-Rhine Westphalia completed the online survey. The results show considerable consistency across the investigated contexts regarding the importance of the behavioral constructs in explaining citizens’ technology acceptance, confirming the derived conceptual framework. Our findings also reveal a lower local acceptance of both biorefineries and aquaponics when compared to general acceptance rates, pointing to the so-called NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) effect. Moreover, local acceptance was lower in the transition region, underlining the particular need for effective communication and participation strategies in those regions to successfully implement a sustainable bioeconomy.

Keywords: Benefit-risk perception; Biorefineries; Aquaponics; Bioeconomy transition; Affective evaluation; PLS-SEM (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160791X23001239
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:teinso:v:74:y:2023:i:c:s0160791x23001239

DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2023.102318

Access Statistics for this article

Technology in Society is currently edited by Charla Griffy-Brown

More articles in Technology in Society from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().