'Twixt cup and lip organizational behaviour, technical prediction and conservation practice

Abstract Using comparative case data from two universities, an organizational model of energy conservation decision making is developed. Unlike an economic model, this highlights the importance of power and incentive distribution and information acquisition and analysis. It shows how moving closer to a market—through organizational decentralization—changes energy conservation behaviour, but does not necessarily improve it. In addition to providing insight into the critical dimensions in new technology design, this model provides a tool for analysing policy. Four generic policy options are presented. The model indicates the need to move from policy models derived strictly from economics to those which treat institutional issues as central.

[1]  P. Lawrence,et al.  Organization and Environment: Managing Differentiation and Integration , 1967 .

[2]  James D. Thompson.  Organizations in Action , 1967 .

[3]  T. L. Whisler,et al.  Information technology and organizational change , 1972 .

[4]  John P. Robinson,et al.  The proof of the pudding : Making energy efficiency work , 1991 .

[5]  Wolfgang Rudig.  Energy conservation and electricity utilities A comparative analysis of organizational obstacles to CHP/DH , 1986 .

[6]  C. Gersick.  REVOLUTIONARY CHANGE THEORIES: A MULTILEVEL EXPLORATION OF THE PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM PARADIGM , 1991 .

[7]  J. Hage,et al.  An Axiomatic Theory of Organizations , 1965 .

[8]  P. S. Komor,et al.  Behavioral determinants of energy use in small commercial buildings; Implications for energy efficiency , 1988 .

[9]  Jerry A. Hausman,et al.  Individual Discount Rates and the Purchase and Utilization of Energy-Using Durables , 1979 .

[10]  Peter Cebon.  The missing link : organizational behavior as a key element in energy/environment regulation and university energy management , 1990 .

[11]  W. Powell,et al.  The iron cage revisited institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields , 1983 .

[12]  M. Tushman,et al.  Technological Discontinuities and Organizational Environments , 1986 .

[13]  R. Normann,et al.  Organizational Innovativeness: Product Variation and Reorientation , 1971 .

[14]  S. Gould.  The Panda's Thumb , 1980 .

[15]  Edelgard Gruber,et al.  Promoting energy conservation in small and medium-sized companies , 1991 .

[16]  James E. McMahon,et al.  The Behavior of the Market for Energy Efficiency in Residential Appliances Including Heating and Cooling Equipment , 1987 .

[17]  Marc Ross,et al.  Capital Budgeting Practices of Twelve Large Manufacturers , 1986 .

[18]  R. Wirtshafter,et al.  Incentives for energy conservation in schools , 1991 .

[19]  M. Tushman,et al.  Organizational Evolution: A Metamorphosis Model of Convergence and Reorientation , 1985 .

[20]  Avraham Shama,et al.  Energy conservation in US buildings: Solving the high potential/low adoption paradox from a behavioural perspective , 1983 .

[21]  L. Winner.  The Whale and the Reactor , 2020 .

[22]  Eric Hirst,et al.  Residential conservation incentives , 1985 .

[23]  Eberhard Jochem,et al.  Obstacles to rational electricity use and measures to alleviate them , 1990 .

[24]  R. Hartman,et al.  Household Discount Rates Revisited , 1986 .

[25]  Elliot Aronson,et al.  Energy use: the human dimension , 1986 .

[26]  M. Dertouzos,et al.  Made in America: Regaining the Productive Edge , 1989 .