Bjoern Mitzinneck
Cornell University
INSPIRING PRIDE: HOW BIO-ENERGY VILLAGES CHANGE INSTITUTIONALIZED ENERGY SUPPLY IN GERMANY
Abstract
Many grand challenges of today, such as climate change, are systemic in nature and thus call for institutional changes to be addressed. Winning support for institutional change is not an easy task, however. We have learned much on how institutional entrepreneurs work to cognitively convince prospective supporters. Yet, letting go of the taken-for-granted is also an inherently emotional process. In an inductive, multi-case study of green energy initiatives in Germany, I find that emotion can be both an inhibitor and a facilitator of institutional change; skillful emotive institutional work making the difference. Failure to address initial anxieties induced by the prospect of institutional change can lead to the failure of entire initiatives. While, inspiring pride in prospective supporters by engaging institutionally embedded higher ends can win support where mere cognitive arguments fail. I develop a grounded process model incorporating both cognitive and affective routes to building support for institutional change.
BIOGRAPHY
Bjoern Mitzinneck is a PhD candidate in Management and Organizations at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University, expecting to graduate in May 2018. His research focuses on social entrepreneurship and novel forms of organizing for environmental sustainability. Drawing primarily on institutional theory, he is currently studying the development of two novel organizational models in the changing energy sector of Germany: Bioenergy Villages and Renewable Energy Cooperatives. Prior to joining the PhD program at Johnson, Bjoern worked for a start-up winery in Stellenbosch, South Africa. He earned a BSc in Management and Economics from Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany and an MPhil in Strategy, Innovation, and Organization from Cambridge University, United Kingdom.