Strategic Niche Management (SNM) beyond sustainability : an exploration of key findings of SNM through the lens of ICT and privacy

The governance of transitions to sustainability is gaining attention. This paper discusses the approach of strategic niche management (SNM) and contributes by asking whether this approach is also useful for other types of socially desirable change. This question is addressed through a review of six key-findings of SNM and an original case study of Near Field Communication (NFC) technologies for mobile payment. The social value at stake in this case is privacy. We draw three conclusions. First, the key-findings and concepts in SNM for sustainability are helpful to interpret much of the data collected for the NFC case. However, there are also notable differences in each of the key-findings. Second, the role of sustainability values (being a promising value to pursue) and privacy values (being a bottom-line value to defend) are notably different in relation to governance. Third, these differences result in different roles of public bodies in niche development.