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Assessing socio-technical resistance to public policy instruments: Insights from water performance indicators in the Grenoble area (France)

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  • Thomas Bolognesi

    (Université de Genève, Switzerland)

  • Antoine Brochet

    (INRAE, France)

  • Yvan Renou

Abstract

This article puts forward the notion of socio-technical resistance with an application to the regulation through performance indicators in the water sector. Governance failures are mainly explained by concentrating on governance design, considering regulation as a set of control mechanisms. We propose an alternative perspective by putting the emphasis on socio-technical resistance to take into account both human and non-human actors in the governance process. We observe the misuse of performance indicators by local actors in urban water systems in Europe to highlight the empirical significance of socio-technical resistance. Results support that socio-technical resistance is frequent and reduces significantly the reliability of the information gathered through performance indicators. Drawing on a new typology of resistance, we show socio-technical resistance is a dynamic combination of cognitive, interpretative, territorial, strategic, technical and structural factors. These results and the proposed notion underline a crucial limitation of public policies and regulation in the process of policy-instruments implementation and compliance. Empirically, it reveals particularly relevant to provide new insights on New public management and performance-based regulation, where measurement are crucial.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Bolognesi & Antoine Brochet & Yvan Renou, 2021. "Assessing socio-technical resistance to public policy instruments: Insights from water performance indicators in the Grenoble area (France)," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 39(7), pages 1407-1435, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:39:y:2021:i:7:p:1407-1435
    DOI: 10.1177/2399654420986561
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