This study explores citizens’ anticipations of wind turbines that may be installed in their vicinity and the experiences of those living near existing turbines – reflecting different stages of the installation process. Findings from a German online survey (N = 2664) reveal that citizens experience considerable uncertainty regarding the impacts of wind farms, both prior to and after construction. Across several dimensions, including ecological and economic effects, experiences with existing wind farms are less negative than expectations of those anticipating future installations. An exception concerns the perceived fairness of the installation process. These results are integrated into a preliminary model of environmental change communication, which draws on insights from organizational transformation research to better understand the dynamics and outcomes of installation-related discourses.
Schmid-Petri et al. (Wed,) studied this question.