Individual Behavior and Sustainability Transitions: Managing Uncertainty for Innovation and Resilience

Abstract

The pursuit of sustainability is tied to large-scale change processes or transitions occurring within societal, ecological, and technological spheres. Innovation and resilience-centered approaches have emerged as important frameworks for analyzing sustainability transitions. While research on sustainability transitions often places innovation and resilience in the context systemic change, there is less understanding of how individuals contribute to these change processes. This is despite the potential of individuals to act as facilitators or inhibitors of change. Given that sustainability transitions introduce significant uncertainty, examining how individuals experience and manage uncertainty can provide important insights into their engagement in sustainability transitions. The four articles comprising this dissertation underscore the importance of an uncertainty management perspective in understanding individual intentions and behaviors related to innovation and resilience. This research aims to inform both research and policy in developing individual-centered approaches toward sustainability.