Social Entrepreneurs as Change Agents in Rural Regions

IFI researcher Richard Lang presented the newly developed analytical framework for the analysis of social entrepreneurs’ role as change agents in rural regions at the Regional Studies Association Conference in Graz. The framework is a co-development by Richard Lang, who currently is Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Birmingham and Matthias Fink, who is part of the team of researchers in the EU Horizon 2020 Project RurInno.

Situated at the intersection of their research interests, the framework facilitates theory-driven data collection in comparative) longitudinal case-based research. It integrates the structural perspective on institutions with a dynamic agency-based approach of strategic action fields of organisations and complements this with a place-based perspective. With this framework Richard and Matthias prepared the basis for tapping the full potential of scientific progress provided by their two research initiatives.