IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/lucirc/2023_014.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Agency and Structure in Regional Development: In Search of a Social Science Research Programme

Author

Listed:
  • Grillitsch, Markus

    (CIRCLE, Lund University)

  • Sotarauta, Markku

    (Tampere University)

Abstract

As a concept, agency stretches from philosophical and meta-theoretical elaborations to studies documenting largely idiosyncratic happenings in a particular empirical context, which could be dismissed as anecdotal. In between, and source for the recent revival of scholarly interest, lies the promise to explain transformation processes, multiplex governance, and varieties in wellbeing and development pathways, which are needed in a world overshadowed by crises. Have studies on agency and structure lived up to the promise? Only partly, we argue, and suggest that we need to develop a common ontological commitment as well as adequate mid-range theories and methods coherent with such a commitment. We suggest critical realism as backbone of such a common ontological commitment and discuss potential ways forward for a social science research programme with emancipatory potential, this is to say to contribute to our capabilities to make a difference in the world.

Suggested Citation

  • Grillitsch, Markus & Sotarauta, Markku, 2023. "Agency and Structure in Regional Development: In Search of a Social Science Research Programme," Papers in Innovation Studies 2023/14, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2023_014
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://wp.circle.lu.se/upload/CIRCLE/workingpapers/202314_grillitsch.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Danny MacKinnon & Stuart Dawley & Andy Pike & Andrew Cumbers, 2019. "Rethinking Path Creation: A Geographical Political Economy Approach," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 95(2), pages 113-135, March.
    2. Huiwen Gong & Robert Hassink & Cassandra C Wang, 2022. "Strategic coupling and institutional innovation in times of upheavals: the industrial chain chief model in Zhejiang, China [Institutional change in economic geography]," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 15(2), pages 279-303.
    3. Gillian Bristow & Adrian Healy, 2014. "Regional Resilience: An Agency Perspective," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(5), pages 923-935, May.
    4. Markus Grillitsch & Bjørn Asheim & Michaela Trippl, 2018. "Unrelated knowledge combinations: the unexplored potential for regional industrial path development," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 11(2), pages 257-274.
    5. Robert Huggins & Piers Thompson, 2023. "Human agency, network dynamics and regional development: the behavioural principles of new path creation," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(8), pages 1469-1481, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kurikka, Heli & Grillitsch, Markus, 2020. "Resilience in the periphery: What an agency perspective can bring to the table," Papers in Innovation Studies 2020/7, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    2. Vitor Klein Schmidt & Aurora Carneiro Zen & Bernardo Fernandes Soares & Bruno Anicet Bittencourt, 2023. "Trajectory and cluster resilience elements: The case of the Brazilian wine cluster of the Serra Gaúcha," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 596-624, June.
    3. Maximilian Benner, 2022. "Legitimizing path development by interlinking institutional logics: The case of Israel's desert tourism," PEGIS geo-disc-2022_01, Institute for Economic Geography and GIScience, Department of Socioeconomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    4. Grillitsch, Markus & Asheim, Bjørn & Nielsen, Hjalti, 2019. "Does long-term proactive agency matter for regional development?," Papers in Innovation Studies 2019/16, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    5. Uyarra, Elvira & Zabala-Iturriagagoitia, Jon Mikel & Flanagan, Kieron & Magro, Edurne, 2020. "Public procurement, innovation and industrial policy: Rationales, roles, capabilities and implementation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(1).
    6. Maximilian Benner, 2021. "Revisiting path-as-process: A railroad track model of path development, transformation, and agency," PEGIS geo-disc-2021_09, Institute for Economic Geography and GIScience, Department of Socioeconomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    7. Grillitsch, Markus & Hansen, Teis & Madsen, Stine, 2020. "How novel is Transformative Innovation Policy?," Papers in Innovation Studies 2020/8, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    8. Di Wu & Neil M. Coe, 2023. "Bottom-up cluster branding through boundary spanners: The case of the Jingdezhen ceramics cluster in China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 60(14), pages 2874-2900, November.
    9. Xiyan Mao & Peiyu Wang, 2023. "Import–export nexus and China's emerging trade in environmental goods," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 157-181, March.
    10. Yijia Chen & Robert Hassink, 2019. "Multi-scalar knowledge bases for new regional industrial path development: Toward a typology," PEGIS geo-disc-2019_10, Institute for Economic Geography and GIScience, Department of Socioeconomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    11. Michaela Trippl & Simon Baumgartinger-Seiringer & Alexandra Frangenheim & Arne Isaksen & Jan Ole Rypestøl, 2019. "Green path development, asset modification and agency: towards a systemic integrative approach," PEGIS geo-disc-2019_01, Institute for Economic Geography and GIScience, Department of Socioeconomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    12. Maximilian Benner, 2021. "System-level agency and its many shades: How to shape the system for path development?," PEGIS geo-disc-2021_10, Institute for Economic Geography and GIScience, Department of Socioeconomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    13. Arne Isaksen & Emelie Langemyr Eriksen & Jan Ole Rypestøl, 2020. "Regional industrial restructuring: Asset modification and alignment for digitalization," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(4), pages 1454-1470, December.
    14. Markus Grillitsch & Bjørn Asheim & Arne Isaksen & Hjalti Nielsen, 2022. "Advancing the treatment of human agency in the analysis of regional economic development: Illustrated with three Norwegian cases," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(1), pages 248-275, March.
    15. Martin Ron & Sunley Peter, 2022. "Making history matter more in evolutionary economic geography," ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography, De Gruyter, vol. 66(2), pages 65-80, July.
    16. Grillitsch, Markus & Sotarauta, Markku & Asheim, Björn & Fitjar, Rune Dahl & Haus-Reve, Silje & Kolehmainen, Jari & Kurikka, Heli & Lundquist, Karl-Johan & Martynovich, Mikhail & Monteilhet, Skirmante, 2022. "Agency and Economic Change in Regions: Using Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to identify Routes to New Path Development," Papers in Innovation Studies 2022/5, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    17. Jolly, Suyash & Grillitsch, Markus & Hansen, Teis, 2019. "Agency in regional path development: Towards a bio-economy in Värmland, Sweden," Papers in Innovation Studies 2019/7, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    18. Johan Miörner, 2019. "Contextualizing system agency in new path development: What factors shape regional reconfiguration capacity?," PEGIS geo-disc-2019_13, Institute for Economic Geography and GIScience, Department of Socioeconomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    19. Huiwen Gong & Robert Hassink & Cassandra C Wang, 2022. "Strategic coupling and institutional innovation in times of upheavals: the industrial chain chief model in Zhejiang, China [Institutional change in economic geography]," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 15(2), pages 279-303.
    20. Jiří Blažek & Viktor Květoň & Simon Baumgartinger-Seiringer & Michaela Trippl, 2019. "The dark side of regional industrial path development: towards a typology of trajectories of decline," PEGIS geo-disc-2019_08, Institute for Economic Geography and GIScience, Department of Socioeconomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Agency and structure; regional development; path development; critical realism; social science methodology;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General
    • R50 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2023_014. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Torben Schubert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/circlse.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.