Sverker Molander, Environmental Systems Analysis, Chalmers University of Technology
2008-2013

The project started off from the perception that the environmental problems of eutrophication encountered in the Baltic Sea is caused by human actions on land, and that the actions are controlled by specific actors able to make choices regarding their use of technology. We call these actors "actors at the interface", namely between a socio-technical and an ecological system. In turn their choice of technology is influenced by a large number of factors (influences). Given this setting the project aimed at 1. a systematic review of relevant institutions 2. case studies as an empirical ground for 3. development of influence models of institutional arrangements, policies and their environmental outcome.
Initial studies however revealed the need for empirical studies of households (the actors controlling the interface between small-scale sewage treatment systems and the environment) aiming for an understanding of influences "bottom-up", and to complement this perspective with studies "one-step-up" (on municipal inspectors) and studies with a more comprehensive scope regarding formal institutions acting on many levels from central government to municipal levels. With this somewhat more narrow focus on on-site sewage systems and households both "actor internal" and "actor external" influences on households have been investigated in an interview study and one extensive questionnaire to a statistically representative group of Swedish households with on-site sewage systems.
An interview and document study has also been performed to describe the multi-level governance system focusing on-site sewage systems in Sweden, Denmark and Finland.
Furthermore is the data gathering and analysis of another questionnaire to municipal inspectors of on-site sewage systems on-going

The most important results

Based on an interview study it was possible to identify a number of influences on households considering a change of their on-site sewage system. The results indicate that enforcement actions, such as inspections by local environmental authorities, are the main driving force behind changing OSSs. However, internal motivation is also important in that homeowners have to accept the demands from authorities. The results suggest that normative motives help homeowners accept demands from environmental authorities while self-interested motives do the opposite. Due to at times severe constraints and strong external incentives, regulatory enforcement approaches that give homeowners time to adapt to regulatory demands might increase acceptance. Furthermore, regulatory enforcement should be seen as a process of change in which inspectors adapt requirements to the perceived levels of acceptance among homeowners and their capability to change OSSs. Since such feedback affects the requirements imposed on homeowners they have implications for environmental outcome.
A high degree of accordance was found between this interview study and a questionnaire survey eliciting social-psychological factors important for actual change or intention to change. We found that regulatory enforcement through inspections is important to make homeowners change on-site sewage systems, but that social-psychological factors also are influential. In the regression analysis private benefits, efficacy in relation to the environmental problem and perceived ability to change the on-site sewage systems were important predictors of intention to change. Normative motivation, in terms of descriptive norms, is less important, while trust and fairness have weak or insignificant effects on intentions to change on-site sewage systems.
Another study based on the same survey aimed at explaining homeowners' willingness to follow rules relating to OSS by testing the explanatory strength of various trust-related factors. Trust in institutions in general and trust in environmental authority inspectors together with the perceived environmental effectiveness of having an OSS that meets authority requirements are the most important explanatory factors. In short, the results support the propositions regarding the importance of political trust, fair procedures and others' behavior, and efficacious policy measures for accepting authority requirements. Moreover, homeowners in general seem to find rules governing OSSs plausible and have the view that authorities work impartially etc. Although the results indicate the legitimacy of the governance system, there is reason to believe that many homeowners are neither aware that their OSS may not be well functioning, nor aware that their OSS may not meet authority requirements. The willingness to follow rules would therefore perhaps be lower if homeowners had a more correct perception of the functionality of their OSS.
All in all municipal inspections are influential, but the way inspectors interact with the actors-at-the-interface and what other kinds of motivations that is at hand plays important roles.
Finally, another study analyses the governability and institutional interplay regarding OSSs in Finland, Sweden and Denmark. The point of departure is that all countries have problems to manage nutrient emissions from OSSs. In Denmark the regulatory system is more clear and easy to interpret for relevant actors than in Finland and Sweden, although the Danish rules probably have lower ambitions than the Nordic fellow countries. The analysis shows that how implementation is organised in terms of institutional arrangements matter a great deal. Inadequate institutional interplay affects negatively the prospects for governability of deficient OSSs. Primarily, municipal environmental inspectors have problems to interpret the national guidelines, i.e., vertical interplay is inadequate due to unclear regulation (Finland and Sweden). This results in potentially different policy outcomes, i.e., homeowners are treated unequally depending on where they live. Such varying interpretations inter-municipally are a sign of lack of horizontal interplay, although the problem initially lies at the national level. Imperfect horizontal integration takes place nationally too, since national authorities have had problems defining a proper division of labour. Under such institutional conditions it is difficult to achieve progress, making the issue area hard to govern.
 

New research questions generated

The research has motivated further work with conceptual models of influences on actors-at-the-interface striving towards more formal influence diagrams and Bayesian network models to distinguish more from less important influences based on questionnaire results.
We are also preparing for a proposal funding an international collaboration where we are aiming to extend the Swedish surveys and Nordic country comparisons into other Baltic Sea riparian states in order to make comparative studies on the influences on household (small systems) as well as on actors responsible for larger wastewater treatment plants. These studies will also include modelling aiming at policy evaluation and efficacy comparisons. We think that such comparative studies can help inform various kinds of policy-making related to emission reductions.

The three most important publications
The project has so far resulted in an extensive report and conference publications. Furthermore several interesting manuscripts are in various stages of completion and publication. Of these one is in review and two are in a late stage of preparation.
The submitted manuscript deals with the issue of interventions and internal motivation on Swedish homeowners' change of on-site sewage systems (results of the survey) and the other two manuscripts deal with the legitimacy of the OSS governance systems by explaining homeowners' willingness to follow rules relating to OSS by testing the explanatory strength of various trust-related factors (also results of the survey), and the findings from the initial studies of institutional arrangements across Sweden, Denmark and Finland, respectively.

Dissemination of project results

The results have been presented to both a scientific audience (in four conferences - Swedish Political Science Association (SWEPSA) conference in Gothenburg, 30 September-1 October 2010; International Society for Industrial Ecology 2011 Conference, June 7-10, 2011 University of California, Berkeley; American Political Science Association's Annual Meeting and Exhibition, New Orleans, LA, August 30-September 2, 2012; 3rd International Conference on Sustainability Transitions, Copenhagen, DK, 2012) and to Swedish stakeholders (Havs- och Vattenmyndigheten and others).

Publications

Zannakis, Mathias & Wallin, Are, 2010. What factors can influence house-owners' willingness to invest in environmentally improved on-site sewage systems? Paper presented at the SWEPSA conference in Gothenburg, 30 September-1 October 2010. Working group: Environmental problems and lack of cooperation.

Wallin, Are & Molander, Sverker, 2011. Factors influencing house-owners to adopt environmentally improved on-site sewage systems. International Society for Industrial Ecology 2011 Conference, June 7-10, 2011 University of California, Berkeley.

Wallin, Are, Molander, Sverker & Johansson, Lars-Olof, 2011. Faktorer som påverkar hushåll att minska enskilda avlopps miljöbelastning. Report - Department of Environmental Systems Analysis, Chalmers University of Technology, ISSN 1404-8167; no 2011:4

Wallin, Are, Zannakis, Mathias, Johansson, Lars-Olof & Molander, Sverker, 2012. Influence of interventions and internal motivation on Swedish homeowners’ change of on-site sewage systems. Manuscript submitted to Resources, Conservation and Recycling.

Wallin, Are & Zannakis, Mathias, 2012. Drivers and barriers to decreasing environmental pressures from decentralized large technical systems – institutional changes and technological dependencies in the case of Swedish on-site sewage systems 1930-2010. Paper presented at the 3rd International Conference on Sustainability Transitions, Copenhagen, DK, August 29-31, 2012.

Zannakis, Mathias & Wallin, Are, 2012. Political Trust and Perceptions of Others’ Behavior – Explaining Homeowners’ Acceptance of Government Regulations of On-site Sewage Systems. Paper presented at the American Political Science Association’s Annual Meeting and Exhibition, New Orleans, LA, August 30–September 2, 2012.

Zannakis, Mathias & Wallin, Are, 2013. The legitimacy of government regulations of on-site sewage systems: the impact of political trust, environmental effectiveness and contact with authorities. Manuscript (to be submitted to scientific journal).

Zannakis, Mathias, 2013. Regulation without implementation: Institutional interplay and the governability of on-site sewage systems in Sweden, Finland and Denmark. Manuscript (to be submitted to scientific journal).