Institutional relatedness and the emergence of renewable energy cooperatives in German districts

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Authors

This paper analyses the evolution of renewable energy cooperatives, examining all such cooperatives founded in German districts between 2006 and 2016. The rise of the cooperative form in renewable energy production is a prominent example of the strong involvement of users in market formation. We investigate the effects of ‘institutional relatedness’, arguing that renewable energy cooperatives can leverage the organizational knowledge and the legitimacy gained by cooperatives active in other industries in the same district. Using an organizational ecology approach, we find that the local presence of cooperatives in other industries indeed supported the founding of renewable energy cooperatives.

Original languageEnglish
JournalRegional Studies
Volume56
Issue number4
Pages (from-to)548-562
Number of pages15
ISSN0034-3404
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 03.04.2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

    Research areas

  • cooperatives, institutions, legitimacy, market formation, related diversification, renewable energy
  • Management studies