Energy transition goes beyond technological substitution to involve changes in human values. To steer value shifts toward desired directions, it is important to understand what individual actor can do. While scholarship has explained general mechanisms of value change, far less is known about how individuals participate in micro value dynamics and shape these transformations. This study addresses this gap by examining how individual lithium battery researchers navigate value tensions in practice, centering on their value beliefs and value practices. Based on interviews with fifteen experienced researchers, the findings reveal that value dynamics in energy transition unfold through recursive dynamics between structured value landscapes and distributed navigation practices. Researchers inhabit possibility spaces shaped by material constraints, institutional requirements, and societal expectations, yet reshape these landscapes through translation, negotiation, positioning, and projection practices. The study argues that desired value change is not merely a shift toward isolated, fixed values but requires cultivating mutualistic relations between individual actors and evolving value landscapes. For the governance of the low-carbon energy transition, this perspective suggests effective interventions should focus more on enhancing the generative capacity of value landscapes, in addition to prescribing specific outcomes.

In dynamic sociotechnical contexts, values evolve over time and diverge across stakeholder groups, complicating the coordination of innovation processes through individual and collective commitments. This paper argues that sociotechnical agendas, which are structured sets of technology-related issues that shape attention and guide decision-making, can be a helpful framework for examining the interplay between personal and shared values. We demonstrate how three levels of agenda-setting contribute to the recognition and institutionalization of values: issue salience that determines what values matter, attribute framing that shapes how values are interpreted, and network interconnection that establishes how values relate to each other. We examine sociotechnical agenda-setting as a process through which personal and institutional values are negotiated, aligned, and contested, often under conditions of tension and uncertainty. While sociotechnical agendas can foster consensus and support responsible technological development, they also pose challenges, including power imbalances, selective framing, and psychological influence. The study calls for further research into how transparent and inclusive agenda-setting processes can promote responsible value sharing in ways that advance broader societal goals.

A good comprehension of value dynamics can contribute to a more value-sensitive and responsible design of technology. Theories addressing changes in values related to technology tend to reduce the complexity of technology development, neglecting the intricate interrelations between technical components within sociotechnical systems. This paper proposes an approach that incorporates Thomas Hughes’ notion of reverse salient to explore value change across two sociotechnical scenarios, which also aligns with the pragmatic account of values. Through an analysis of the values of safety and sustainability within lithium-ion battery (LiB) technologies, this study illustrates how the approach assesses changes in the relative importance of specific values within a certain domain, as well as the dynamics in the translation of these values. This case demonstrates that the emergence of reverse salients can enhance the recognition of certain values, potentially prompting a reconsideration of how these values are interpreted or translated. The study recommends that future research advances the operationalization of reverse salients and applies them to specific contexts to better manage value change.