Markets or relationships? Institutional logics shaping home energy retrofit program design and delivery in Australia

Supporting householders to retrofit their homes is becoming a key lever for many countries to achieve their energy efficiency and emission reduction targets. In Australia, retrofit programs run by national and state governments are increasingly complemented by programs from local governments and community groups. Despite this proliferation, little is known about the assumptions, values, beliefs and rules that shape how these different groups design and deliver their programs. This paper addresses this gap by investigating what program organisers in state government, local government and community organisations need in order to design and deliver home energy retrofit programs. Through interviews with 19 program organisers, we identify 20 distinct needs spanning program design and implementation. Analysing how each group articulates these needs, and the solutions they employ to address them, reveals implicit paradigms guiding their work. Using an Institutional Logics perspective, we show that these paradigms rest on two contrasting logics: a Market Logic emphasising rational choice and standardised delivery, and a Community Logic foregrounding trust building and place-based relationships. State government programs are predominantly shaped by the Market Logic, community groups by the Community Logic, and local government combines elements of both. We argue that substantial energy efficiency gains depend not only on better designed individual programs but also on conditions that allow locally led, relationship-based programs to grow in number, scale and durability.