Strategic planning to reduce conflicts for offshore wind development in Taiwan: A social marketing perspective

• A social marketing approach with segmentation techniques is used.
• To identify the target market based on stakeholders’ perceptions.
• The empirical results identify three stakeholder segments.
• Communication should be implemented to alter stakeholders’ attitudes.
• Enhancing the perception of benefits to reduce conflict among stakeholder segments.

This study aims to improve the current inefficiency and ineffectiveness of communications among stakeholders when planning and constructing offshore wind farms (OWFs). An analysis using a social marketing approach with segmentation techniques is used to identify the target market based on stakeholders’ perceptions. The empirical results identify three stakeholder segments: (1) impact-attend group; (2) comprehensive group; and (3) benefit-attend group. The results suggest that communication should be implemented to alter stakeholders’ attitudes toward the construction of OWFs. Furthermore, based on the results of segmentation, target markets are identified to plan the communication strategies for reducing the conflicts among stakeholders of OWF construction. The results also indicated that in the planning phase of construction for OWFs, effective stakeholder participation and policy communication can enhance the perception of benefits to reduce conflict with local communities and ocean users.