Institutional work, regional key actors, and green industrial restructuring

Abstract

Departing from evolutionary economic geography, the objective of the article is to reveal the dynamics of institutional work by regional key actors with a need to achieve green restructuring in regions dependent on the oil and gas industry. The authors combine quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate how, why, and when regional stakeholders’ institutional work contributes, or not, to changing institutional logics that enable green industrial restructuring in the regional innovation systems of two adjacent petroleum-dominated regions in Norway. The main finding is that despite shared positive visions in both regions for green industrial restructuring, the processes of institutional work and related institutional logics respectively legitimize a green shift in Hordaland and delegitimize it in Rogaland. Consequently, there is a need to remain mindful of institutional work’s connection to regional and often taken-for-granted institutional logics. In conclusion, the authors argue that the findings challenge the current IW discourse within economic geography, which has tended to explain green regional industrial restructuring as outcomes of intended agency leading to successful outcomes.