Mitigating climate change necessitates shifting citizens' behaviour towards more sustainable practices. Integrating psychological insights into public communication can significantly influence this behavioural change, while also potentially increasing perceptions of manipulation. In the current era of high distrust in governments, understanding the characteristics of manipulation is crucial to ascertain whether government communication is perceived as manipulative. Given the lack of established measurements to identify and gauge perceived manipulation, this thesis takes an exploratory step in searching for the determinants of perceived manipulation in Dutch public communication using both quantitative and qualitative methods.

Drawing on the philosophical, psychological, and psychiatric literature on manipulation, this study identifies potential determinants and biases that influence perceived manipulation. The four potential key determinants of manipulation include bypassing rationality, covertness, trickery, and indifference. Potential biases such as source scepticism, individualism versus collectivism, climate change scepticism, negative attitudes towards the campaign, and opposition to climate action are identified. Literature also indicated that the perceived manipulation might impact the acceptance of manipulative communication. Consequently, an approach was developed to evaluate the acceptance of manipulative communication by considering philosophical perspectives, including perceived morality, harm, and loss of autonomy associated with manipulative communication.

A conceptual model illustrating potential relationships of the described potential determinants, biases and evaluation items guided the survey design. The determinants were translated into measurable items formulated by the author based on the literature review, enabling empirical testing. To validate these measurements, a quantitative survey was conducted. A fictitious campaign using social norms to influence energy use behaviours was developed and tested, resulting in 100 valid responses from Dutch citizens. The quantitative data were analysed using reliability analysis, ANOVA, and correlation analysis in SPSS.

The quantitative findings revealed high internal reliability for questions related to perceived bypassing rationality, perceived trickery and indifference. While perceived trickery and indifference were measured on four and three items, respectively, bypassing rationality was measured on only two items questioning the validity.

The quantitative analysis indicated that perceived trickery and covertness were not significant predictors of perceived manipulation in this example case. Nevertheless, it is crucial to maintain the association of these constructs with the concept of perceived manipulation, as the qualitative data of the experiment indicated that participants often describe manipulation using elements from the constructs of trickery and covertness.
Importantly, perceived bypassing rationality and indifference emerged as empirically supported determinants of perceived manipulation, indicating that public communications that bypass logical reasoning, avoid factual information and fail to provide reasons for intended behaviour to the manipulatee are likely to be perceived as manipulative.

Contrary to other research, this study found that the source, whether government or energy supplier, does not impact perceptions of manipulative campaigns using social norms and acceptance of manipulative communication. Notably, campaigns that do not provide reasons for the goal increase perceived indifference and covertness by the campaign-makers but do not significantly increase perceptions of manipulation.

This research contributes to both societal and scientific domains. By identifying determinants of perceived manipulation, the study provides policymakers with a quantitative tool to measure perceptions of manipulativeness in their communications. This foundation can help policymakers assess perceived manipulation and create ethical guidelines for the growing use of social influences. Scientifically, the study bridges philosophical, and psychological perspectives, contributing to a comprehensive understanding of perceptions of manipulation in public communication. It introduces and validates novel constructs for measuring perceived manipulation, providing empirical evidence on the roles of bypassing rationality and indifference, which can inform future theoretical developments and practical applications in communication strategies.

The research faced limitations including a small sample size and the use of a convenience sample, which may not fully represent the general public. The high educational level of participants might have influenced the perception of manipulation. Additionally, the internal consistency between scales was not always robust, impacting the reliability and validity of the measures.

Future research should broaden the scope of this study by incorporating more complex issues. By doing so, we can ascertain if the effects of perceived manipulation and its determinants vary with the novelty of the subject matter. This may shed light on why certain suggested determinants of perceived manipulation, such as the level of covertness and trickery aspect, did not demonstrate a significant association with perceived manipulation in the current study.

Given the building sector's significant impact on energy consumption and CO2 emissions, there is a clear need for a sustainable solution. Here, smart building technologies are emerging as a promising response, as they offer the potential to improve operational efficiency while reducing environmental impact. However, the development of smart building solutions for the building sector often follows a technology-driven approach, in which technical feasibility and overall system optimization are prioritized over occupants’ perspectives, preferences, and behavior. As a result, building systems and technologies are not fully aligned with how occupants use and interact with these spaces. Bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application is, therefore, crucial for unlocking the full potential of smart building technology.

This study focused on enhancing our understanding of the interaction between smart building technology and users. A specific focus is placed on climate control technology within the broader landscape of smart building systems. By employing an exploratory approach, in which a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods was utilized, smart building users’ preferences and behavioral mechanisms were explored. Through semi-structured interviews with smart building occupants, the study delved deeper into understanding the motivations, barriers, and other aspects of occupant behavior and interactions with smart building technology. Additionally, insights from interviews with industry experts provided valuable perspectives on which key factors contribute to the increased adoption of smart building technology. These qualitative findings were complemented by quantitative data collected through an online survey (n=92), which allowed trends and preferences to be identified from a larger group of smart building occupants.

The study showed that the successful implementation of smart building technology goes beyond mere technological details. It provided empirical insights into the preferences and behavioral mechanisms of smart building occupants, filling a gap in the existing literature. By exploring these aspects, the research deepened our understanding of user interactions within smart buildings. Consequently, it advocates for a user-centered approach to smart building initiatives, emphasizing the importance of understanding human preferences and incorporating user feedback to effectively adapt technology to their specific needs and routines. However, the study revealed a diverse range of user preferences and motivations regarding interaction with smart building technology, including preferences regarding control levels, system feedback, transparency, flexibility, and interface design. This diversity highlighted the absence of a one-size-fits-all approach to implementing smart building technology. Consequently, specific practical recommendations were developed to guide stakeholders in smart building initiatives, emphasizing a more user-centered implementation that ensures adaptability to the unique needs and preferences of building users.

A relatively novel approach of public participation is the Participatory Value Evaluation (PVE) in which a dilemma of a policymaker is provided to citizens (Mouter, Shortall, et al., 2021). In a PVE, citizens face a realistic choice task in which the policy dilemma is explained to the participant (Hernandez et al., 2023). Participants have to divide a set budget over several options.
Currently, there are three main methods for analyzing PVE datasets: descriptive statistics, Latent Class Cluster Analysis (LCCA) and choice modelling. A tool that can identify relations between participant features and their preferences can provide additional insights to policy makers and researchers. If machine learning is to be applied to PVEs, it could be used to predict choice task outcomes based on features of the participant. However, the opaque algorithms in machine learning can make it difficult for a human to understand how the results were produced, which can make it difficult to interpret.
The field of Explainable AI has risen as a response to this issue: the aim of explainable AI methods is to give insight in the inner workings of the machine learning algorithm. An example we further research is SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations). This thesis focuses on the implementation of SHAP in PVE analysis, under the following research question: ”What additional insights does machine learning with SHAP provide for PVE quantitative analysis compared to conventional methods?”
To answer the research question, a case study is performed by applying the SHAP method to the PVE of the National Programme Regional Energy Strategy (NP RES). A Random Forest machine learning model provided the best fit to the dataset. When these results of SHAP analysis of the random forest model are compared to the results of the LCCA, it is apparent that SHAP provides more insights (26 versus 11). SHAP is able to reveal patterns on a smaller scale than LCCA. The resulting insights are different to the results of the LCCA analysis. Many of the insights from SHAP analysis are not seen in the LCCA.
Overall, it can be concluded that applying SHAP results in new insights that were not found with other methods used on the NP RES PVE case. This study has shown that SHAP can be a relevant tool to gather insights about the PVE data and the differences among participants. It can gather individual effects of demographic variables on the choices participants make. Therefore it can lead to more and refined policy advice to governments.
PVE experiments are still in their infancy. The ability of SHAP to provide additional insights into PVE experiments within this thesis provides an incentive to further use SHAP in PVE experiments, including academic PVEs. SHAP predominantly provides insights into the relation between participant characteristics and their valuation of options in the choice task, allowing for the diversity of groups within the participant population to be directly addressed. This direct address broadens the range of results and does justice to the diversity of our society.

European and Dutch environmental goals prescribe that national emitted CO2 levels need to be reduced. Therefore, the Dutch government chose to transition the whole Dutch residential sector to gas-free living by 2050, to decrease CO2 levels. Homeowners are responsible themselves for adopting a sustainable heating system, where specifically heat pumps are one of the main proposed solutions. However, renovation rates are not expected to meet their determined goals. Hassle factors are a psychological barrier in homeowners' decision-making process, leading to inaction and delays. Therefore, it is determined what is perceived as a hassle and to what extent it is a barrier in homeowners' decision-making process.

Five main hassles were determined which impact the decision-making: ‘length of disruption’, ‘information gathering’, ‘subsidy and loan applications’, ‘finding a contractor’ and ‘neighbour consultation’. Next, their influence as a barrier has been examined through discrete choice modelling with the help of a stated-preference choice experiment containing in total 155 complete responses. The results of this study, for the first time, empirically validated that all five mentioned hassles negatively influence homeowners' decision-making. However, these five individual influences are best modelled as one combined hassle factor, which is perceived as more important than the financial profit a homeowner receives over the lifetime of a heat pump. Additionally, a latent class analysis was performed, finding significantly different preferences between two homeowners groups within the sample. Looking more closely at what a homeowner perceives as a hassle, the additional factor of ‘profit’ is found to have a de-hassling effect on the overall amount of hassle, indicating that context is important for homeowners. Looking more closely at the perceptions of hassle, differences between conscious and unconscious perceptions can be found.

The findings of this research show that reducing the five main hassles can be used to speed up the adoption process of heat pumps and contribute to reducing the adversities of climate change. Policymakers and businesses can perform interventions to decrease hassle or provide even ‘hassle-free’ alternatives by taking over tasks. The appropriateness of these interventions can be based on the derived value of time indicators created for each individual hassle factor. The use of context differentiations can be used as an additional tool via nudging and sludging to decrease or increase the perceived amount of hassle of choices. This research's overall value provides a better understanding of the psychological barrier hassle, which is rarely considered in homeowners' decision-making.

To use solar energy efficiently, reduce emissions and net congestion problems, prosumer households should substitute grid-consumed energy with self-consumption. Loadshifting is a low-cost measure to increase self-consumption, shifting energy-intensive behaviors (such as running the laundry machine) to periods of time when energy is produced. Research on the behavioral foundation of loadshifting is scarce. At a time of growing PV integration, leading to a debate on balancing responsibility and the dismantling of the Dutch net-metering scheme, the Netherlands makes for an interesting case to study this issue. This study aims to assess the barriers limiting Dutch prosumer households from loadshifting the use of their laundry machine to a time when their solar PV system is producing energy.

Literature shows that loadshifting not only depends on the individual, but also on the material and institutional context. Therefore, combining the individual-focused theory of planned behavior and context-focused social practice theory is useful to study barriers to loadshifting. The newly constructed model consists of 10 measurable constructs possibly underlying barriers to loadshifting. The included constructs are sufficiency attitude, motivation, user beliefs, know-how, monitoring skills, habits, hassle, practical knowledge provided, institutional policies and regulations, and feedback provision by system design. To test this model a mixed-methods approach is taken. Qualitative data is obtained through six semi-structured interviews with solar energy experts and is analyzed through thematic content analysis using ATLAS.ti. The quantitative data encompasses 283 survey responses from Dutch prosumers, analyzed mainly through a multiple regression analysis in SPSS.

Qualitative findings largely verify the model. According to experts, a low sufficiency attitude, passive user beliefs, limited practical knowledge, strong habits, hassle, limited know-how, low monitoring skills, financial motivation and low feedback provision are all relevant barriers to loadshifting behavior. Barriers found in addition to the predefined model include high age, panel orientation, a lack of clear policy, safety concerns, outdated machinery, and low interpretability of energy bills. On the other hand, only low monitoring skills, strong habits, limited practical knowledge, and passive user beliefs significantly limit loadshifting behavior in the quantitative analyses.

Findings highlight the need for cooperation amongst the energy sector, home appliance producers, policymakers, consultants, researchers, and prosumers. Furthermore, technology should support human behavior, rather than expecting behavior to adjust to technology. For example, technical measures that do not require dramatic habitual change can easily support loadshifting, such as panel orientation. If the encouragement of habitual change is desired, dismantling the Dutch net-metering scheme in combination with providing a monetary self-consumption bonus is recommended. Moreover, prosumer knowledge on self-consumption and prosumers’ monitoring skills should be increased.

Strengths of this study include its mixed-methods approach, the large quantitative sample size and the novel combination of two theories. However, not all relevant barriers could be considered, and policymakers were not interviewed directly. Lastly, most constructs were quantitatively measured using two questions only. Future research is needed mainly to assess potential interaction effects between habits, hassle, and know-how. Additionally, other barriers can be assessed, such as the effects of motivation or values on loadshifting.

The societal need for sustainability transformation is crucial in light of climate change, and the role of individual action and behavioural changes is considered critical in meeting the Paris agreement. Radical shifts in social norms are required, which could be achieved through reaching social tipping points. These tipping points could be reached earlier by focusing on ‘greening’ communities rather than individuals. Any type of social change however, needs initiation in one way or another. Knowing what makes people advocate for pro-environmental behaviour within their community or communities, could help initiate the needed sustainability transformation. A knowledge gap was found as the literature only partly covered this topic. Sports clubs in the Netherlands are popular and relevant community settings that are increasingly stimulated towards more sustainable practices, therefore this was the setting that was focused on in the study. An exploratory approach was taken to pinpointing which helping or facilitating conditions in sports clubs are experienced by individuals who make efforts in the sustainability transformation at their club. To do this, a conceptual model was created, taking a multi-level approach and combining the capability-opportunity-motivation-behaviour (COM-B) model with environmental citizenship. A total of 17 participants who considered themselves an initiative taker or achiever for sustainability at their sports club were consulted through semi-structured interviews. Elements of grounded theory were used to shape the analysis of the acquired data. The interview transcripts were coded and analysed using the COM-components of the conceptual model. The analysis shows that there is a multitude of factors that stimulate partaking in sustainability transformation at sports clubs, with community feel or communication, and (resulting) availability of skills and knowledge standing out. Limitations of the study included taking a rather broad approach, advising future studies to further deepening more self-contained dimensions. Recommendations for supporting organisations, policy makers and sports club members with environmental concerns, included communicating about concerns and providing support regarding sustainability transformations, among others.

By the year 2050, the Dutch government aims to have transitioned away from natural gas and provide heating to all residential dwellings using more sustainable technologies. Heat pumps (both all-electric and hybrid models) are expected to play a large role in fulfilling this heating demand. However, because heat pumps require electricity in order to provide heating, a rise in the number of installed heat pumps is expected to have a significant effect on the residential electricity demand. This poses an issue during times of peak demand and low renewable power availability, leaving no choice but to increase reserves and ramping needs from fossil-fueled conventional power assets. Luckily, when provided with the right control strategy, heat pumps are able to flexibly draw electricity from the power grid, lowering the electricity required during peak hours. As a result, it is both possible that an increase of installed heat pumps in the Netherlands can either aggravate the flexibility problem or provide a key role in solving it.

The extent to which heat pumps could contribute to providing this demand response is not only dependent on the technical demand-response characteristics of the heat pumps. Rather, it is determined by both the willingness of households to adopt the heat pump and the way users react to the proposed control strategy. Using econometric techniques, the master thesis research project quantifies these behavioral dimensions into a model estimating the electrical flexibility heat pumps will be able to either require or provide in the Netherlands in 2050. In the research, several consumer typologies are defined distinguishing between consumer user groups and consumer adoption groups. The research finds that an additional 1.6 GW of flexibility can be provided by heat pumps in 2050 should policy be developed that targets consumer adoption behavior. Consumer user behavior has less of an influence on the average demand response potential of heat pumps, however could be an area of focus should a frequent demand response be desired.

In 2011, Adaptive Delta Management (ADM) was introduced in the Dutch Delta Program as a policy development method to incorporate uncertainty in decision making transparently. Currently, little is known over the functioning of ADM in practice, while this is determining its success. The study explores the application of ADM in Dutch practice. Starting from the scientific foundation of ADM is being researched how ADM is shaped in practice using interviews with actors on the strategy level and the implementation level. The results are analyzed to explore what they mean for the adaptiveness of coping with sea-level rise by Dutch delta management. The research shows that the application of the greater part of the instruments of Adaptive Delta Management (ADM) is not coherent with how they should be applied according to theory. The first difference observed is that adaptation pathway maps in practice are far simpler than prescribed in theory; they only contain the preferential strategy instead of multiple strategies, and no signposts and transfer stations are defined. Secondly, adaptation tipping points are more flexible in practice than is prescribed in theory. The final difference observed is that evaluating strategies in practice has a fixed rhythm, while according to theory, continuous evaluation and recalibration should occur whenever new information comes available. The main implication of these differences is that ADM in practice provides less guidance to policymakers on when and which adjustments of strategies are needed than in theory. Based on the analysis of the similarities and differences between theory and practice, the research found that currently, the governance of ADM in practice in the Netherlands does not enhance adaptation to sea-level rise. The study stresses the importance of taking action to keep the Netherlands safe from sea-level rise now and in the future. Therefore, several recommendations inspired by the theoretical foundation of ADM are proposed to ensure adaptation to sea-level rise is enhanced. The first recommendation aims to ensure that policymakers get insight into the solution space to cope with sea-level rise and understand what measures need to be taken today to keep the long-term solutions open. Furthermore, actors involved in the implementation of strategies (such as regional water authorities, municipalities and water utility companies) should obtain insight into the possible consequences of sea-level rise for their area and know how to incorporate this in decision making.

In the future, the energy supply will primarily consist of energy from renewables, which makes energy producers and grid operators fear that grid security and reliability could be threatened. On top of a more fluctuating supply, energy demand is also expected to increase in the coming years, especially if heating will be electrical when gas is phased out. Demand-side management, and more specifically demand response, could be a way to make demand match supply better and limit the foreseen energy shortages. A smart grid and smart metering technology can be implemented to overcome the hurdles of grid integration of renewables. Consequently, the implementation of a smart grid could potentially steer consumer electricity usage and allow for automated demand shifting. This thesis analyzes consumer participation in demand response in an electricity grid with a high share of renewables. The effect of multiple price- and incentive-based interventions are tested for different consumer populations and supply scenarios. The aim is to improve the understanding of the effect of consumer heterogeneity on the participation in demand response. An agent-based model was constructed that represents the energy system as a copper plate model and incorporates the rule-based behavior of different consumer types. This model was used to answer the main research question: How can a simulation model be used to analyze the influence of consumer heterogeneity on the success of demand response enhancing policies in future electricity networks? The consumer types that were included are the green, the cost-conscious, the convenience-oriented and the indifferent energy consumer. Subsequently, five personal values were identified as important moderators for consumer participation, namely the values of price, environment, comfort, safety and social norm. Different interventions and combinations of interventions were compared based on the three model KPIs energy shortage, total electricity cost and required storage. The comparison of the interventions and intervention combinations showed that the differences in energy shortage between the policies were limited and were mainly determined by supply. For a constant supply, the results revealed that the simultaneous implementation of all policies was most effective to reduce shortages, followed by the policy combinations that included the cost comparison with a reduction. Naturally, these combinations also resulted in lower electricity costs for the consumers. The cost comparison and reduction policy and default shifting could increase consumer participation most when used as a separate intervention. Some main conclusions can be drawn from the analysis of the interventions. First of all, supply was the most important influence on energy shortages. Depending on the shortage period characteristics, shortages could not always be solved completely by demand response, but a higher amount of demand shifters can improve the situation significantly. However, not all consumer types could be motivated to switch to a shifting contract, which means that the consumer population is an important influence on the effectiveness of policies. From this thesis it can be concluded that a simulation study is a successful way to create an inclusive model of the technical, economic and behavioral system components. The model was able to provide a system-level overview of the system dynamics and improved the understanding of interactions between interventions and consumers. Therefore, this model can be used in future case studies to analyze the potential consumer participation and recommend suitable interventions to increase this.

This research has the goal to analyse the influence of neighbourhood characteristics on people’s willingness to adopt Mobility as a Service (MaaS) instead of the car for new residential areas. It estimated the influence of a reduced parking comfort, MaaS-hub availability and aditional quality of the overall neighbourhood on the willingness to adopt MaaS instead of the car and the total attractiveness of new residential areas. It used a Stated Choice experiment and survey to estimate a MNL- and ML-model for both one and multiple car households. The results indicate that MaaS adoption rates are limited. MaaS only seems a niche market for people with multiple cars and as neighbourhoods with a larger hub at the border near public transport facilities combined with multiple small scale neighbourhood hubs with only shared cars and bikes.

A replication of the classic Foot-in-the-Door experiment to observe if it can be used as a driver of fruit and vegetable waste separation. Move over, for the first time the transparency and the online use of this behaviour influencing tool are discussed within this thesis.

This thesis explores whether cognitive bias and hassle perceptions influence the adoption of sustainable building measures. A survey research and in-depth interviews were used to do so. It appears that innovation in the building sector is hindered by an internal resistance against change. This seems to be fuelled by a lack of knowledge, risk aversion, and perception of hassle due to complex information. Investing in effective knowledge management and promoting diversity in the workforce could prove effective in negating the effect of this internal resistance to change.

Disinformation is a problem that has become more relevant over the past years. Also the European Union tried and is trying to deal with this problem by introducing multiple policy actions. However, the impact and usefulness of these policies is not clear. This thesis uses a combination of stakeholder analysis, interviews and systems thinking to assess the impact of current policies the reduce the spread and production of disinformation. This assessment serves to further improve current and future policy actions. Results from the analysis indicate that current policy actions are not focused on the root causes of the production and spread, and can be improved, among other things, by introducing regulation, making policies more goal-oriented and being more clear about policies in terms of content.

Persuasive games have great properties for facilitating lasting attitude change for complex societal issues, making them a valuable tool for achieving attitude change towards cooperation and information sharing that is often necessary for effective multi-actor decision-making. It is assumed that persuasive game design principles are key drivers for conceiving successful persuasive games, however, their effect on attitude change and attitude reinforcement has not been validated. To get one step closer towards validated persuasive game design principles, this research aimed at validating the most frequently used persuasive game design principles for persuasive game for multi-actor decision- making: simulation. Game experiments in the form of laboratory experiment were conducted to control for possible confounding variables. Three versions of an existing game were conceived in which the persuasive game design principle simulation was varied. A mixed methods approach was used in which both quantitative and qualitative measures were conducted to assess the effect of the persuasive game design principle simulation on attitude change. Based on current findings it cannot be confirmed nor denied that the persuasive game design principle has affected attitude change regarding cooperation and information sharing. Still, the main scientific contribution of this research is the creation of a sufficient method for evaluating the effect of persuasive game design principles on attitude change in isolation which did not consist yet. Further research on the methodology is advised to validate its effect and for fine-tuning. Additionally, it is advised to conduct this research with a greater sample size in this future.

In this report the potential effect of framing on the decision-making process in participatory value evaluation is researched. Participatory Value Evaluation, PVE, is a method of evaluating citizens preference targeted towards public projects and their budget. For instance, PVE can measure the preference of citizens when allocating alternative infrastructure projects with a set budgetA gap in knowledge is found in the decision-making process of the method. The validity of participatory value evaluation is potentially affected by cognitive bias effects such as framing. The main question of this research is: Is there a measurable difference in outcome of the decision-making process between emphasis-framed alternatives within the participatory value evaluation method? The used method is a between-subject design, laboratory experiment. Three versions of the same basic PVE are constructed. A control version with neutral descriptions of the potential projects, and two framed versions through the structure of one-sided emphasis framing. A convenience sample of 181 participants is used, with each version of the PVE receiving roughly 60 participants. The three versions of the PVE were kept exactly the same with exception of the framed descriptions. A difference between the groups is shown to be significant on a project level in six out of six tested projects. Concluded is that, in general, emphasis-framing has an effect on the decision-making in PVE. The effect of framing is argued to have a limitation. When participants feel strongly about a certain topic, the frame influences the outcome less, this is known as issue importance. Recommendations to further research are made, as a method for mitigating the influence within PVE can be researched. The impact of overall presentation of different projects, in terms of framing with images, or extensive project descriptions, can be researched. Expert interviews were conducted, to gain insight in how the PVE method is perceived by policy-makers. The overall consensus is that PVE is a useful method of involving citizens. The PVE can be used by policy-makers as an advisory tool. Framing within PVE, is unwanted when testing the preferences of the citizens. However, it might be useful to emphasise the importance of certain projects. Therefore, it is argued that the use of framing should be an ethical consideration.

In this thesis, the applicability of a novel method – the Participatory Value Evaluation method – to the transition towards zero natural gas use at the local level of the case study neighborhood Hengstdal in Nijmegen was researched. The main objective of this thesis is to contribute to the development of the PVE method by researching the applicability of this novel method to the transition towards zero natural gas use at the local level of an existing neighborhood.

As a result of the research, only 6 respondents filled in the web tool and participated in the experiment. It must be concluded that it was not possible to apply the Participatory Value Evaluation method to the case study about the transition towards zero natural gas use of the neighborhood Hengstdal in Nijmegen. The process of implementing the PVE method is analyzed in order to identify factors that might have complicated the application process in this specific case study. To avoid future applications of the PVE method to suffer from the same complicating factors, several conditions are formulated. If these conditions are met, they could avoid or mitigate the impact of the complicating factors and could therefore make it possible to successfully apply the PVE method. However, future research is necessary in order to determine whether these conditions are sufficient for a successful implementation of the method.

The goal of this thesis was to ‘develop a tool that offers insights in message framing for behaviour change to improve communication towards customers.’ By using an Design Based Research and Double Diamond approach constant iterations were made between theory and practice to develop a support tool that helps sustainable start-ups to design message frames that stimulate pro-environmental consumer behaviour change. Furture recommendations are to further develop the tool, test the effects, and stimulate more integrated research on the psychology of behaviour change, sustainable behaviour barriers, and framing designs.

Worldwide, organisations are establishing joint ventures to overcome market trends and size-specific challenges. Smaller sized organisations lack financial resources to introduce their innovation to the market, while larger sized organisations trouble with renewing their core business models. Consequently, more and more joint ventures are established between dissimilar sized organisations to combine resources and knowledge. However, these asymmetric joint ventures are subject to specific opportunistic behaviour which is promoted by a power imbalance between the partners.

Opportunistic behaviour may harm the performance of a joint venture and may even jeopardise the survivability of an organisation. In an asymmetric joint venture it is likely that the larger sized organisation will accumulate the majority of bargaining power by which the smaller sized organisation is put at risk. Therefore this research is conducted to assess how opportunistic behaviour emerges through a power imbalance. And eventually how this affects the overall performance of an asymmetric joint venture. Next, it is expected that when opportunistic behaviour emerges, that it will decrease cooperative behaviour and thus will affect the trust between the partners.

Data was retrieved by combining the SDC Platinum alliance database with the Orbis financial database to identify asymmetric joint ventures which have been established worldwide in the last ten years. From these asymmetric joint ventures, only the joint ventures operating in the manufacturing division were contacted, because these are characterised by product innovations to stay competitive. By doing several internet searches per asymmetric joint venture, contact information could be retrieved of executives knowledgeable of these joint ventures. A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect data about the asymmetric joint ventures. In total 77 completed surveys were collected.

The results of this research show that the amount of financial resources and expertise brought to the joint venture will determine the bargaining power of each partner. The majority of bargaining power is in most cases accumulated by the larger partner and is based on the financial investments made to the joint venture. The powerful party may use its bargaining power to alter the strategic direction of the joint venture in her favour, as bargaining power was found to be negatively correlated with goal congruence. Next, the relationship between goal congruence and joint venture performance was found to be fully mediated by trust. This suggests that opportunistic behaviour needs time to get recognised by the disadvantaged partner since it is disguised.

Despite the fact that roughly 70% of the joint ventures worldwide were found to be asymmetric and achieve less performance than symmetric alliances, the current literature is barely addressing the characteristics that influence the performance of asymmetric joint ventures. This research, however, addressed some of these characteristics by examining the relationship between power imbalance and opportunistic behaviour in asymmetric joint ventures.
The practical relevance of this study is that the bargaining power of the larger partner may be limited by the smaller partner by significantly contributing in expertise to the joint venture. Next, smaller partners should be aware of different sized absorptive capacities, through which the larger partner may outlearn them and identify private opportunities that may promote opportunistic behaviour. Lastly, this research showed that trust is a critical factor in achieving high performance in asymmetric joint ventures. However, building a relationship in an asymmetric setting might be a challenging task due to the unfamiliarity between the dissimilar sized organisations.

In the face of technological discontinuities and disruption, convergence and increased global com- petition, established firms need to transform their business models more rapidly, more frequently and more radically than in the past. In line with the open innovation paradigm, which states that firms can and should use both internal and external ideas and paths to market, corporates are now actively engaging with startups to deal with these rapidly changing conditions. Recently, an increase is also witnessed in the types of corporate-startup engagement that are available to corporates to create, interact with, collaborate with, invest in or acquire startups. History however shows that corporate- startup engagement is by no means easy. In the past, many engagement mechanisms such as corporate venturing have been widely adopted and soon abandoned. The lack of setting and pursuing clear objectives and failure to establish a link between startup engagement and overall corporate strategy are considered important reasons for the lack of long-term success. This research contributes to the strategic use of corporate-startup engagement by corporate management by exploring the relation between corporate strategy and the concepts of open innovation, corporate venturing and corporate-startup engagement. A new framework has been developed linking open innovation (with corporate-startup engagement as its subset) to corporate strategy and the innovation ecosystem.