| dc.description.abstract | As climate change is a globally well-known problem, the importance of the energy transition becomes even more prevalent. Many studies have been performed on the energy transition before, investigating the energy sector as a whole, analyzing the success and failure of specific innovations. However, little attention is paid to the individual organizations that are implementing innovations during this transition period. Individual organizations have an organizational identity. This is the base that predominantly influences the decision making and innovation by an organization. The combination of the concepts individual organizations, identity and innovation remain under explored within the literature. Organizational identity was thought to persist once it was imprinted (Stinchcombe, 1965), later research showed that the imprinted identity of organizations can change during sensitive periods, for example during a takeover or merger (Marquis & Tilcsik 2013). Within this research the potential change in identity was researched using a multiple case study of three Dutch organizations in the energy sector (Greenchoice, Essent and Nuon/Vattenfall). For this bottom-up research open coding was used to determine themes that are recurring in the selected articles. These themes are then used to find patterns of a changing identity of the organizations.
The three organizations did not experience a significant change in identity. The External Organizational Identity (EOI) of Essent and Nuon/Vattenfall is focused on being traditional incumbent energy suppliers, who mainly use biomass as green energy resource. Results show that Greenchoice has a very different EOI, as they are mostly referred to as a green energy supplier that has been green since it was established. Essent and Nuon both experienced a takeover. Essent’s identity did not seem to change because of this. Nuon/Vattenfall was increasingly associated with a negative Green Organizational Identity (GOI) since the takeover by Vattenfall. Comparing the actual sustainability efforts of these organizations showed that Vattenfall exceedingly invested the majority in sustainable resources, which was not reflected in the newspapers. The investment and WISE ranking for Essent and Greenchoice was pretty similar to how they were presented in the newspapers. Finally, the time and trends during the founding of the organization and strategy are important moments for organizations as these have had the biggest impact on their identity and have stayed persistent throughout the researched period. A sensitive period, such as a takeover, can be a trigger for a change in identity. However, this is not always the case as can be seen by Essent. These results contribute to the existing literature by verifying the theory and adding how this can be used in transition research. | |
