How justice-framed policy narratives shape citizen engagement: Evidence from a survey experiment on time and capital contributions

Under the dual challenges of global climate change and energy crises, the success of energy transition critically depends on substantive citizen engagement to secure social legitimacy and mobilize distributed resources. However, encouraging such engagement requires moving beyond mere material incentives to resonate with citizens' normative values. This study investigates how energy justice framed policy narratives serve as a key communicative mechanism to foster citizens' willingness to contribute time and capital. Based on a survey experiment with 927 participants, the study designed three narratives reflecting distributional, procedural, and recognition justice compared against a control group. The experimental results indicate that justice-framed narratives can significantly enhance citizens’ policy support, thereby promoting willingness to contribute time and capital, with the rights protection narrative representing procedural justice being the most prominent. Moreover, the effects of different justice-framed policy narratives also vary among citizens with different levels of trust in the government. This study advances the theoretical discourse on just energy transition by elucidating the roles of policy narratives, while offering practical insights to guide governmental communication strategies that foster citizen engagement and promote a just and sustainable energy transition.