“Steeped in Oil”: The Socio-Psychological Factors and Processes That Influence Community Members’ Attitudes toward Economic Diversification in an Oil and Gas-Producing Community

Abstract

Oil and gas-producing communities are threatened by a precarious oil market and global commitments to transition to a greener economy. Economic diversification has been proposed as a potential strategy for supporting the resilience of these communities amidst such challenges. We sought to explore community members’ attitudes toward the future of their small oil and gas-producing Canadian community to understand the socio-psychological factors and processes that influence their support for economic diversification and those which reinforce path dependency. This qualitative study involved interviews with 37 adults in the community, and a subset of 16 of those participants engaged in transect walks to further explore emerging themes. While the recent prolonged economic downturn prompted some participants’ willingness to diversify, the deeply ingrained culture and identity as an oil and gas town, the ‘golden handcuffs’ of the industry, and optimism for another boom, acted to reinforce path dependency.

Keywords:

• Community resilience
• economic diversification
• energy transition
• lock-in effects
• path dependency
• oil and gas community
• qualitative research

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our immense gratitude to the Local Advisory Committee who provided invaluable guidance throughout each stage of this project, and who are deeply committed to ensuring the knowledge gained contributes positively to their community. We would also like to thank all of the students, staff, and other stakeholders who worked diligently and collaboratively over the project’s lifecycle to make it a success.

Notes

1 The name of the town has been changed to Maple Hill to maintain the anonymity of participants, and of the community itself.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research under Grant # IP2-150708.