Trust and local knowledge production: Interorganisational collaborations in the Sønderborg region, Denmark

TY - JOUR

T1 - Trust and local knowledge production: Interorganisational collaborations in the Sønderborg region, Denmark

AU - Skytt, Christine Benna

AU - Winther, Lars

PY - 2011

Y1 - 2011

N2 - In the knowledge based economy, knowledge production has become increasingly important for the competitiveness of firms, cities and regions and as an explanatory factor of spatial economic dynamics. In an immense amount of literature in economic geography, sociology and economics it has been argued that knowledge production often takes place in inter-organisational collaborations, and that trust is an important prerequisite for such collaboration to succeed. The concept of trust, however, remains often blurred and vaguely defined in much of the literature: it often only appears as an asset, an instrument or an input in economic relations. The paper broaden the understanding of trust in local knowledge production by suggesting an approach to trust as an inter-personal feeling to be analysed on three different but interrelated scales depending on the socio-spatial contexts of the actors. The approach avoids a reification of interorganisational relations as the place for knowledge production but allows an analysis of trust to move between micro-, meso- and macro scales seeing trust as an inter-personal feeling. The conclusion is that trust in diverse socio-spatial contexts takes on different forms at different scales. This is illustrated by a case study of knowledge production in inter-organisational collaborations in the Sønderborg region, Denmark.

AB - In the knowledge based economy, knowledge production has become increasingly important for the competitiveness of firms, cities and regions and as an explanatory factor of spatial economic dynamics. In an immense amount of literature in economic geography, sociology and economics it has been argued that knowledge production often takes place in inter-organisational collaborations, and that trust is an important prerequisite for such collaboration to succeed. The concept of trust, however, remains often blurred and vaguely defined in much of the literature: it often only appears as an asset, an instrument or an input in economic relations. The paper broaden the understanding of trust in local knowledge production by suggesting an approach to trust as an inter-personal feeling to be analysed on three different but interrelated scales depending on the socio-spatial contexts of the actors. The approach avoids a reification of interorganisational relations as the place for knowledge production but allows an analysis of trust to move between micro-, meso- and macro scales seeing trust as an inter-personal feeling. The conclusion is that trust in diverse socio-spatial contexts takes on different forms at different scales. This is illustrated by a case study of knowledge production in inter-organisational collaborations in the Sønderborg region, Denmark.

U2 - 10.1080/00167223.2011.10669520

DO - 10.1080/00167223.2011.10669520

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0016-7223

VL - 111

SP - 27

EP - 41

JO - Geografisk Tidsskrift

JF - Geografisk Tidsskrift

IS - 1

ER -