Agency and actors in regional industrial path development. A framework and longitudinal analysis

Jolly, Suyash; Grillitsch, Markus; Hansen, Teis

doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2020.02.013

Cited by 94 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…In every case region, for the initiation of divergent institutional changes in support of green path development, a shared action has been mobilised, and, in some cases, designated organisations to support this by managing boundary spanning and coordination functions have been established. Our observations, first, confirm the findings of previous studies that institutional entrepreneurship is not an individualised heroic activity, as it is sometimes criticised, but a shared and processual form of agency (see Benneworth et al, 2017;Drori and Landau, 2011;Jolly et al, 2020;Ritvala and Kleymann, 2012;Sotarauta and Mustikkamäki, 2015). Institutional entrepreneurship is shared (involving both regional and extra-regional actors) to control the risk, to better understand the multi-dimensional issues from several perspectives and to shape as early as possible the notoriously complex multi-actor decisionmaking processes.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…As Van de Ven et al (1999) observe, critics play the role of the devil’s advocate by asking cunning questions that force the other actors to re-examine their assumptions and hold them against other criteria. Critics are often fringe actors (Jolly et al, 2020) but not all fringe actors are critics. Fringe actors may adopt more affirmative influence tactics too.…”

Section: A Search For Actor Rolesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The many roles of change agency in the game of green path development in the North

Sotarauta¹,

Suvinen

Jolly

et al. 2020

European Urban and Regional Studies

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The rapidly expanding stream of path development studies recognises that translating observations from past paths to conscious path creation requires conceptually linking agency to path development frameworks. Actors frame issues about and for the future, coordinate their actions in the present and make sense of what may have transpired in the past. The main objective of the paper is to explore the roles that actors play in green path development by answering the following main research questions: (a) Who are the core actors in green path development in the Nordic regions, ie. in industrial development around products, solutions or technologies that make regional economies more sustainable? (b) What are their main roles in relation to other actors? (c) What are the differences and similarities between the regions in terms of agency? The paper explores whether similar actors take on different roles in different regions and whether different actors may assume similar roles. For the empirical analysis, we identified seven roles in change agency. The empirical results showed that institutional entrepreneurship was the core of change agency in conjunction with innovative entrepreneurship and place-based leadership. The other four roles supported path development efforts. The results also show that institutional entrepreneurship is not a solo activity but a collective form of agency and that well-functioning shared institutional entrepreneurship may have a chance to change institutions for green path development.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: A Search For Actor Rolesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The many roles of change agency in the game of green path development in the North

Sotarauta¹,

Suvinen

Jolly

et al. 2020

European Urban and Regional Studies

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“…In the analysis, we have focused on the contextual structures as sources of legitimacy spillovers; however, a complete analysis of the role of legitimacy in path development processes would also necessitate attention to agency and the role of institutional entrepreneurs in shaping contextual structures (Gong, 2019). Consequently, the paper is complementary to the recent emphasis in the path development literature on the role of agency, actors and strategic activities in such processes (Binz et al, 2016a;Gong, 2019;Jolly et al, 2020;MacKinnon et al, 2019). Thus, following Martin and Sunley (2015, p. 721), our analysis is focusing 'upward' and 'outward' towards the constraining and facilitating role of contextual structures, rather than 'downward' on the role of agency and purposive action by regional actors.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Industry legitimacy: bright and dark phases in regional industry path development

Jolly

Hansen

2021

Regional Studies

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The paper contributes to debates on dark phases of regional industry path development processes. We focus on the role of industry legitimacy and study legitimacy spillovers from contextual structures in the case of the biogas industry in Scania, Sweden. Previously presented as a success case, we show how legitimacy spillovers from various contextual structures influenced the path development process, in both the emergence and acceleration phases, and in the recent decline period. The analysis highlights how previously accumulated resources in the form of knowledge, finance and market were insufficient to prevent industry decline when it suffered a loss of legitimacy.

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“…In this context, it deems important to consider not only change agency but also maintenance or reproductive agency, i.e. agency that is oriented towards securing the persistence of existing structures, thus countering pressures for change (Henderson 2020;Jolly, Grillitsch, and Hansen 2020). However, the latter form of agency may not only have a dark side by being a source of failure of challenge-oriented innovation.…”

Section: Towards Challenge-oriented Regional Innovation Systems and Policiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

New directions for RIS studies and policies in the face of grand societal challenges

Tödtling

Trippl

Desch

2021

European Planning Studies

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The regional innovation system (RIS) approach has become a widely used framework for examining the dynamics of innovation across space and for crafting policies to promote the innovation capacity of regions. The dominant focus has been on technological and business innovation enhancing competitiveness and economic growth. In light of persistent environmental and social challenges such as climate change, aging and growing inequalities, this understanding appears to be too narrow. We argue that the RIS approach requires a critical reassessment for informing the next generation of regional innovation policies. We explore how RIS scholarship and policies could benefit from an alternative understanding of the innovation process. Inspired by recent work on mission-oriented and transformative innovation policies, we develop the notion of 'challenge-oriented RISs' (CoRISs). In contrast to conventional understandings of RISs, this approach embraces a more critical view of innovation, captures the directionality of change, opens up to new innovation actors at different territorial scales and pays more attention to the application side and upscaling of innovation within the region and beyond. Acknowledging that regions vary in their capacity for transformative change and challenge-oriented innovation, the article outlines new directions for place-based innovation policies.

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Agency and actors in regional industrial path development. A framework and longitudinal analysis

Cited by 94 publications

References 71 publications

The many roles of change agency in the game of green path development in the North

The many roles of change agency in the game of green path development in the North

Industry legitimacy: bright and dark phases in regional industry path development

New directions for RIS studies and policies in the face of grand societal challenges

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