Towards an integrated framework of agency in regional development: the case of old industrial regions

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the role of agency in regional industrial path development using an integrated framework that combines three recent conceptualizations of agency: (1) firm- and system-level agency; (2) trinity-of-change agency; and (3) reproductive and change agency. Our framework redefines firm- and system-level agency into organizational- and system-level agency to enable a more nuanced and multifaceted understanding of the agency of various regional actors. Empirically, we contribute to the literature by analysing the evolutionary trajectories of two coal regions with vastly contrasting development dynamics. Our research primarily attributes these divergences to the substantial differences in the nature and vigour of system-level agency. However, our empirical research reveals that most actors exerted both organizational- and system-level agency, although at profoundly different intensities and scales.

KEYWORDS:

• organizational and system-level agency
• trinity-of-change agency
• reproductive and change agency
• regional path development
• transformation of old industrial regions

JEL:

• A11

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors are grateful to both the guest editors and the three reviewers for their valuable insights. The advice on an earlier draft of this paper provided by Professor Martin Hampl, who sadly passed away on 21 March 2022, is especially appreciated.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. We acknowledge that the term ‘organizational’ agency has already been used, along with ‘firm’ and ‘individual’ agency, as synonyms in the seminal work by Isaksen et al. (2019). During the review process we were encouraged by a reviewer to stick to the term ‘organizational’ agency in our reconceptualization of the dichotomy between firm- and system-level agency. We are grateful to the reviewer for this and several additional conceptual insights.

2. Strip-mining of brown coal in the Ústecký Region and deep-mining of black coal in the Moravia-Silesia Region.

3. Some examples are Siemens, ABB, Varroc, Tieto and Continental.

Additional information

Funding

The financial support of the Grant Agency of The Czech Science Foundation Republic [grant number 21-26655S] is greatly acknowledged.