Knowledge and Institutions

This open access book bridges the disciplinary boundaries within the social sciences to explore the role of social institutions in shaping geographical contexts, and in creating new knowledge. It includes theorizations as well as original empirical case studies on the emergence, maintenance and change of institutions as well as on their constraining and enabling effects on innovation, entrepreneurship, art and cultural heritage, often at regional scales across Europe and North America. Rooted in the disciplines of management and organization studies, sociology, geography, political science, and economics the contributors all take comprehensive approaches to carve out the specific contextuality of institutions as well as their impact on societal outcomes. Not only does this book offer detailed insights into current debates in institutional theory, it also provides background for scholars, students, and professionals at the intersection between regional development, policy-making, and regulation.

Johannes Gluckler is Professor of Economic and Social Geography and Fellow of the Marsilius Center for Advanced Studies at Heidelberg University. His research follows a relational perspective and builds on theories of organization, networks and institutions in the analysis of knowledge and the space economy. He serves on several editorial boards of journals in the field of economic geography and as a partner of the Schader Foundation in the area of social network research. He is also co-founder of the M.Sc. Governance of Risks and Resources at the Heidelberg Center for Latin America in Santiago de Chile.

Roy Suddaby is the Winspear Chair of Business at the Peter B. Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria, Canada and Research Professor at the Newcastle University Business School, U.K. Professor Suddaby is an internationally regarded scholar of organizational theory and institutional change. His work has contributed to our understanding of the critical role of symbolic resources – legitimacy, authenticity, identity and history – in improving an organization’s competitive position. His current research examines the changing social and symbolic role of the modern corporation.

Regina Lenz is a research associate at the Chair of Economic and Social Geography at Heidelberg University. She studied geography, history, English literature and philology, and economics at Heidelberg University and wrote her diploma thesis on the effectiveness of a development approach in Bangladesh’s leather sector. Furthermore, she has worked for a local business development agency and has done internships in development cooperation and international site selection. Her research focuses on the mechanisms of social institutions, as well as their effects on human interaction and public policy-making.