Search results

This paper focuses on the critical role of institutional entrepreneurs' social skills in enabling transformative change as described by the Multi-Level Perspective. Understanding the role of social skills is crucial for developing a micro-foundational view of sustainability transitions. We develop an analytical framework using a multiple case study on Swiss cantonal planners who acted as institutional entrepreneurs during comparable sustainability transitions by introducing sustainable planning practices within their cantons. We find seven applied skills (i) empathic, (ii) analytical, (iii) translational, (iv) framing, (v) tactical, (vi) organizational, and (vii) timing. Four propositions discuss the role of these social skills across transition phases: from pre-development to take-off, from take-off to acceleration, and from acceleration to stabilization. We present conclusions and implications for future research on the micro-foundations of sustainability transitions.

AbstractThe activities of cluster initiatives operating as systemic intermediaries and supporting networking activities have been discussed in prior studies. We integrate insights from the cluster theory and the literature on sustainability transitions to study the activities of clusters acting as systemic intermediaries in the different phases of the development of a forest-based bioeconomy, namely (1) predevelopment and exploration; (2) takeoff; (3) acceleration and (4) stabilisation. We study three regional cluster initiatives in three different Nordic regions: forest bioeconomy, Central Finland, Finland; Paper Province, Värmland, Sweden, and Arena Skog, Trøndelag, Norway. The paper highlights that the crises in the forest-based industries in Värmland and Trøndelag were the starting point for forest-based cluster development in these regions, while in Central Finland the development was a part of the general economic restructuring of the Finnish economy during the first phase. In the fourth phase, the discontinuity of developed collaboration structures created opportunities for project-oriented collaboration in the case of Central Finland while in the Värmland and the Trøndelag case, the cluster initiatives have broadened the focus of the cluster but also continued the core activities.

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.

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. ; publishedVersion ; Peer reviewed

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. ; publishedVersion

A growing body of literature has examined the dynamics of wind energy development across different mature and emerging institutional contexts. However, so far only few have paused to reflect on the differences between developed and emerging economies. Building upon the literature on institutional entrepreneurship, this paper compares institutional strategies in wind energy development in Finland and India by using the typology of political, technical and cultural work. We highlight the role of institutional approaches in studying sustainable energy transitions in mature and emerging institutional contexts, while being sensitive to the role of heterogeneous actors in shaping institutional arrangements. Our findings offer implications for debates in the institutional entrepreneurship literature by exploring how actors shape their institutional environment in different contexts, and the extent to which emerging institutional contexts provide more opportunities for institutional entrepreneurship. Finally, this paper underscores the need for developing insights into enabling conditions for successful collective institutional entrepreneurship and for developing typologies of institutional strategies which are generalizable across both mature and emerging institutional contexts.