Between institutions and narratives: Understanding collective action in innovation policy processes

Actor-Network Theory; innovation; Institutional Grammar Tool; Narrative Policy Framework; policy process; Sociology and Political Science; Public Administration; Political Science and International Relations; Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

Abstract :

[en] Explanations for collective action focus on both institutions and narratives. On the one hand, institutional approaches emphasize the role of rules that guide human behavior. On the other hand, accounting for the narratives through which policy actors make sense of their actions helps in understanding strategic behavior. However, applying institutional and narrative perspectives together is daunting, in part because there has not been a common way to integrate the two approaches. In this article, we draw from Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to elaborate a novel analytical approach that combines ANT with the Institutional Grammar Tool (IGT) and the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF). We use IGT's and NPF's analytical categories in a processual perspective to examine how policy-makers strategically use institutions and narratives to create and stabilize a network of actors in innovation policy processes. We illustrate our approach through an in-depth analysis of the development of a smart city.

Disciplines :

Strategy & innovation

Author, co-author :

Esposito, Giovanni ; Université de Liège - ULiège > HEC Liège : UER > UER Management : Sustainable Strategy ; Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium

Taffoni, Gaia ; School of Transnational Governance, European University Institute, Florence, Italy

Terlizzi, Andrea ; Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Florence, Florence, Italy

Crutzen, Nathalie ; Université de Liège - ULiège > HEC Liège : UER > UER Management : Sustainable Strategy

Language :

English

Title :

Between institutions and narratives: Understanding collective action in innovation policy processes

Publication date :

November 2024

Journal title :

European Policy Analysis

eISSN :

2380-6567

Publisher :

John Wiley and Sons Inc

Volume :

Issue :

Pages :

532 - 558

Peer reviewed :

Peer reviewed

Additional URL :

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/epa2.1224

Funding text :

Earlier versions of this article were presented at: the Seminar on Politics, University of Padua, Italy (November 23, 2022); the Conference on Policy Process Research (COPPR), University of Colorado, Denver, United States (January 12\u201314, 2023); the sixth International Conference on Public Policy (ICPP6), Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada (June 27\u201329, 2023); the Institutional Grammar Research Initiative (IGRI) Research Seminar (November 7, 2023). The authors gratefully acknowledge the helpful suggestions and criticism made by the participants. The authors would also like to thank Ute Brady, Evert Lindquist, Bettina Stauffer, and the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable and constructive comments.

Available on ORBi :

since 10 February 2025

Statistics

Number of views

8 (1 by ULiège)

Number of downloads

0 (0 by ULiège)

More statistics

Scopus citations^®

Scopus citations^®
without self-citations

OpenCitations

OpenAlex citations

Bibliography

Akrich, M., Callon, M., Latour, B., & Monaghan, A. (2002). The key to success in innovation. Part I: The art of interessement. International Journal of Innovation Management, 6(2), 187–206. https://doi.org/10.1142/S1363919602000550
Appio, F. P., Lima, M., & Paroutis, S. (2019). Understanding Smart Cities: Innovation ecosystems, technological advancements, and societal challenges. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 142, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2018.12.018
Béland, D. (2019). Narrative stories, institutional rules, and the politics of pension policy in Canada and the United States. Policy and Society, 38(3), 356–372. https://doi.org/10.1080/14494035.2019.1644071
Bevir, M., & Rhodes, R. A. W. (2022). All you need is a network: The rise of interpretive public administration. Public Administration, 100(1), 149–160. https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12817
Bobadilla, N., Goransson, M., & Pichault, F. (2019). Urban entrepreneurship through art-based interventions: Unveiling a translation process. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 31(5–6), 378–399. https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2018.1539125
Callon, M. (1984). Some elements of a sociology of translation: Domestication of the scallops and the fishermen of St Brieuc Bay. The Sociological Review, 32, 196–233. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-954X.1984.tb00113.x
Carey, G., Malbon, E., Green, C., Reeders, D., & Marjolin, A. (2020). Quasi-market shaping, stewarding and steering in personalization: The need for practice-orientated empirical evidence. Policy Design and Practice, 3(1), 30–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/25741292.2019.1704985
Conaty, F. (2021). Abduction as a methodological approach to case study research in management accounting—An illustrative case. Accounting, Finance & Governance Review, 27, 2021. https://doi.org/10.52399/001c.22171
Crawford, S. E. S., & Ostrom, E. (1995). A grammar of institutions. American Political Science Review, 89(3), 582–600. https://doi.org/10.2307/2082975
Desdemoustier, J., Crutzen, N., & Giffinger, R. (2019). Municipalities' understanding of the Smart City concept: An exploratory analysis in Belgium. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 142, 129–141. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2018.10.029
Dunlop, C. A., Kamkhaji, J. C., Radaelli, C. M., & Taffoni, G. (2021). The Institutional Grammar Tool meets the Narrative Policy Framework: Narrating institutional statements in consultation. European Policy Analysis, 7(S2), 365–385. https://doi.org/10.1002/epa2.1126
Esposito, G., Clement, J., Mora, L., & Crutzen, N. (2021). One size does not fit all: Framing smart city policy narratives within regional socio-economic contexts in Brussels and Wallonia. Cities, 118, 103329. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2021.103329
Esposito, G., Felicetti, A., & Terlizzi, A. (2023). Participatory governance in megaprojects: The Lyon–Turin high-speed railway among structure, agency, and democratic participation. Policy and Society, 42(2), 259–273. https://doi.org/10.1093/polsoc/puac029
Esposito, G., Nelson, T., Ferlie, E., & Crutzen, N. (2021). The institutional shaping of global megaprojects: The case of the Lyon-Turin high-speed railway. International Journal of Project Management, 39(6), 658–671. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2021.06.001
Esposito, G., & Terlizzi, A. (2023). Governing wickedness in megaprojects: Discursive and institutional perspectives. Policy and Society, 42(2), 131–147. https://doi.org/10.1093/polsoc/puad002
Esposito, G., Terlizzi, A., & Crutzen, N. (2022). Policy narratives and megaprojects: The case of the Lyon-Turin high-speed railway. Public Management Review, 24(1), 55–79. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2020.1795230
Esposito, G., Terlizzi, A., Desdemoustier, J., Pichault, F., & Crutzen, N. (2024). Smart city development as public entrepreneurship: An in-depth case study of mayoral action based on actor-network theory. International Journal of Public Administration, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/01900692.2024.2329672
Esposito, G., Terlizzi, A., Guarino, M., & Crutzen, N. (2024). Interpreting digital governance at the municipal level: Evidence from smart city projects in Belgium. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 90(2), 301–317. https://doi.org/10.1177/00208523231167538
European Commission. (2018). Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), 2018 Country Report Belgium. Publications Office of the European Union.
Fischer, F., & Forester, J. (Eds.). (1993). The argumentative turn in policy analysis and planning. Duke University Press.
Frantz, C. K., & Siddiki, S. (2022). Institutional grammar: Foundations and applications for institutional analysis. Palgrave Macmillan.
Gerring, J. (2007). Case study research: Principles and practices. Cambridge University Press.
Hajer, M. A., & Wagenaar, H. (Eds.). (2003). Deliberative policy analysis: Understsanding governance in the network society. Cambridge University Press.
Hargrave, T. J., & Van de Ven, A. H. (2009). Institutional work as the creative embrace of contradiction. In T. B. Lawrence, R. Suddaby, & B. Leca (Eds.), Institutional work: Actors and agency in institutional studies of organizations (pp. 120–140). Cambridge University Press.
Hodge, G. A., & Greve, C. (2007). Public–private partnerships: An international performance review. Public Administration Review, 67(3), 545–558. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2007.00736.x
Hollands, R. G. (2008). Will the real smart city please stand up? Intelligent, progressive or entrepreneurial? City, 12(3), 303–320. https://doi.org/10.1080/13604810802479126
Hood, C. (1991). A public management for all seasons? Public Administration, 69, 3–19.
Imperial, M. T. (1999). Institutional analysis and ecosystem-based management: The institutional analysis and development framework. Environmental Management, 24(4), 449–465. https://doi.org/10.1007/s002679900246
Jones, M. D., McBeth, M. K., Shanahan, E. A., Smith-Walter, A., & Song, G. (2022). Conducting narrative policy framework research: From theory to methods. In C. M. Weible & S. Workman (Eds.), Methods of the policy process. Routledge.
Kuhlmann, J., & Blum, S. (2021). Narrative plots for regulatory, distributive, and redistributive policies. European Policy Analysis, 7, epa2.1127. https://doi.org/10.1002/epa2.1127
Lawrence, T. B., & Suddaby, R. (2006). Institutions and institutional work. In S. R. Clegg, C. Hardy, T. B. Lawrence, & W. R. Nord (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of organization studies (pp. 215–254). SAGE Publications Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781848608030.n7
Majone, G. (1989). Evidence, argument, and persuasion in the policy process. Yale University Press.
Margherita, E. G., Escobar, S. D., Esposito, G., & Crutzen, N. (2023). Exploring the potential impact of smart urban technologies on urban sustainability using structural topic modelling: Evidence from Belgium. Cities, 141, 104475. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2023.104475
McGovern, R., & Jones, M. D. (2024). The narrative policy framework and institutions. Review of Policy Research, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1111/ropr.12616
Merry, M. K. (2022). Trump's tweets as policy narratives: Constructing the immigration issue via social media. Politics & Policy, 50(4), 752–772. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12487
Mincey, S. K., Hutten, M., Fischer, B. C., Evans, T. P., Stewart, S. I., & Vogt, J. M. (2013). Structuring institutional analysis for urban ecosystems: A key to sustainable urban forest management. Urban Ecosystems, 16(3), 553–571. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-013-0286-3
Mora, L., Deakin, M., & Reid, A. (2019). Combining co-citation clustering and text-based analysis to reveal the main development paths of smart cities. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 142, 56–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2018.07.019
Nam, T., & Pardo, T. A. (2011). Smart city as urban innovation: Focusing on management, policy, and context. Proceedings of the 5th international conference on theory and practice of electronic governance—ICEGOV (vol. 11, p. 185). https://doi.org/10.1145/2072069.2072100
Nam, T., & Pardo, T. A. (2014). The changing face of a city government: A case study of Philly311. Government Information Quarterly, 31, S1–S9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2014.01.002
Nesti, G. (2020). Defining and assessing the transformational nature of smart city governance: Insights from four European cases. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 86(1), 20–37. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020852318757063
Nesti, G., & Graziano, P. R. (2020). The democratic anchorage of governance networks in smart cities: An empirical assessment. Public Management Review, 22(5), 648–667. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2019.1588355
Ostrom, E. (2005). Understanding institutional diversity. Princeton University Press.
Ostrom, E. (2009). A general framework for analyzing sustainability of social-ecological systems. Science, 325(5939), 419–422. https://doi.org/10.1126/SCIENCE.1172133/SUPPL_FILE/OSTROM.SOM.PDF
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods. SAGE Publications.
Pérez-Ibarra, I., Tenza-Peral, A., Soler-Navarro, D., Iglesia, D. A., & Garate-Marín, C. (2023). Evolution and diversity of institutions: Using institutional grammar to analyze governance changes in traditional crop-livestock systems. International Review of Public Policy, 5(2), 161–179. https://doi.org/10.4000/irpp.3332
Sabatier, P. A. (Ed.). (2007). Theories of the policy process. Westview Press.
Sancino, A., Carli, G., & Giacomini, D. (2023). Relational leadership in local governance: The engagement of mayors with citizens, public managers and politicians. Public Management Review, 25(9), 1730–1754. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2022.2039274
Sancino, A., & Hudson, L. (2020). Leadership in, of, and for smart cities—Case studies from Europe, America, and Australia. Public Management Review, 22(5), 701–725. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2020.1718189
Schmidt, V. A. (2008). Discursive institutionalism: The explanatory power of ideas and discourse. Annual Review of Political Science, 11, 303–326. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.polisci.11.060606.135342
Schreier, M. (2012). Qualitative content analysis in practice. SAGE.
Shanahan, E. A., Jones, M. D., & McBeth, M. K. (2018). How to conduct a Narrative Policy Framework study. The Social Science Journal, 55(3), 332–345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soscij.2017.12.002
Shanahan, E. A., Jones, M. D., McBeth, M. K., & Radaelli, C. M. (2018). The narrative policy framework. In C. M. Weible & P. A. Sabatier (Eds), Theories of the policy process. Routledge.
Siddiki, S., Heikkila, T., Weible, C. M., Pacheco-Vega, R., Carter, D., Curley, C., Deslatte, A., & Bennett, A. (2022). Institutional analysis with the institutional grammar. Policy Studies Journal, 50(2), 315–339. https://doi.org/10.1111/psj.12361
Stephan, H. R. (2020). Shaping the scope of conflict in Scotland's fracking debate: Conflict management and the narrative policy framework. Review of Policy Research, 37(1), 64–91. https://doi.org/10.1111/ropr.12365
Terlizzi, A. (2019). Health system decentralization and recentralization in Italy: Ideas, discourse, and institutions. Social Policy & Administration, 53(7), 974–988. https://doi.org/10.1111/spol.12458
Terlizzi, A. (2021). Narratives in power and policy design: The case of border management and external migration controls in Italy. Policy sciences, 54(4), 749–781. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11077-021-09440-4
Tonga Uriarte, Y., DeFillippi, R., Riccaboni, M., & Catoni, M. L. (2019). Projects, institutional logics and institutional work practices: The case of the Lucca Comics & Games Festival. International Journal of Project Management, 37(2), 318–330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2018.09.001
United Nations. (2015). Transforming our world: The 2030 agenda for sustainable development. A/RES/70/1.
Weible, C. M., & Sabatier, P. A. (Eds.). (2018). Theories of the policy process. Routledge.