Making the ‘business case’: vocabularies of motive and clean tech innovation in the hidden developmental state

IF 3.2 2区经济学 Q1 ECONOMICS

Socio-Economic Review Pub Date : 2022-11-21 DOI:10.1093/ser/mwac061

M. Kallman, S. Frickel

引用次数: 1

Abstract

This article analyzes the hidden developmental state (HDS) from a cultural perspective, exploring the values and vocabularies of motive among technology experts, managers and government officials involved in state-led innovation. We consider the rollout of smart meters in Washington State, an endeavor primarily funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). Mobilizing evidence from 70 key informant interviews, we develop two related arguments. First, despite its ‘hiddenness’, the ARRA provided cash injections that shifted utility business models and electricity markets from fossil fuels infrastructure and toward renewable technologies by funding projects rather than organizations. The funding structure enabled engineers and managers to bypass conventional industry gatekeepers. Second, this shift was conditioned by a traditional ‘business case’ discourse, which functioned as a rhetorical lubricant, legitimating risky innovation and disguising individual and organizational values that run against established norms. A concluding discussion highlights the implications for future research.

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制造“商业案例”：隐藏发展状态下的动机和清洁技术创新词汇

本文从文化视角分析了隐性发展状态(HDS)，探讨了参与国家主导创新的技术专家、管理者和政府官员的价值观和动机词汇。我们考虑在华盛顿州推出智能电表，这是一项主要由2009年美国复苏和再投资法案(ARRA)资助的努力。从70个关键线人访谈中提取证据，我们提出了两个相关的论点。首先，尽管ARRA“隐蔽”，但它通过资助项目而不是组织，提供了现金注入，将公用事业的商业模式和电力市场从化石燃料基础设施转向可再生技术。这种融资结构使工程师和管理人员能够绕过传统的行业看门人。其次，这种转变受到传统“商业案例”话语的制约，这种话语起到了修辞润滑剂的作用，使冒险创新合法化，并掩盖了违背既定规范的个人和组织价值观。结论性讨论强调了对未来研究的影响。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Socio-Economic Review Multiple-

CiteScore

6.80

自引率

10.80%

发文量

期刊介绍： Originating in the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE), Socio-Economic Review (SER) is part of a broader movement in the social sciences for the rediscovery of the socio-political foundations of the economy. Devoted to the advancement of socio-economics, it deals with the analytical, political and moral questions arising at the intersection between economy and society. Articles in SER explore how the economy is or should be governed by social relations, institutional rules, political decisions, and cultural values. They also consider how the economy in turn affects the society of which it is part, for example by breaking up old institutional forms and giving rise to new ones. The domain of the journal is deliberately broadly conceived, so new variations to its general theme may be discovered and editors can learn from the papers that readers submit. To enhance international dialogue, Socio-Economic Review accepts the submission of translated articles that are simultaneously published in a language other than English. In pursuit of its program, SER is eager to promote interdisciplinary dialogue between sociology, economics, political science and moral philosophy, through both empirical and theoretical work. Empirical papers may be qualitative as well as quantitative, and theoretical papers will not be confined to deductive model-building. Papers suggestive of more generalizable insights into the economy as a domain of social action will be preferred over narrowly specialized work. While firmly committed to the highest standards of scholarly excellence, Socio-Economic Review encourages discussion of the practical and ethical dimensions of economic action, with the intention to contribute to both the advancement of social science and the building of a good economy in a good society.