Organisational studies and local development: is there any integration?

Considering changes in which local development paradigm is actually involved, it could be useful thinking about the possible dialogue between local development perspective and some study fields in organisational sociology, like New Institutionalism and Network paradigm. The aim of this paper is to outline a research track where the two traditions of research mentioned above could cooperate in a profitable way, mixing their own theoretical and analytical tools. Research objects of most local development literature are often organisations, for instance, single firms as well as system of firms, local development agencies or specific policies. Despite this, the organisational dimension is often undervalued. That’s the reason why analytical tools of organisational sociology, especially ones from New Institutionalism perspective, are rarely exploited. Notions like isomorphism and organisational field could be very useful to depict actors as well as to identify mechanisms and processes that influence outcomes in local development practices and experiences. The paper is organised in different sections. Each one firstly focuses on the definition of a particular analytical tool from organisational sociology and then on its empirical applications to local development analyses. The aim is to emphasize how the contamination between this two perspectives can contribute to deepen and improve empirical research, highlighting elements and dimensions often in the background. In the last part, we suggest some final considerations about our proposal, thinking about possible future prosecution.

Veronica Piras, Francesca Salivotti, Studi organizzativi e sviluppo locale: quali contaminazioni possibili? in "STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI " 1/2012, pp 9-32, DOI: 10.3280/SO2012-001001