Rune Dahl Fitjar
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 1474528 |
|---|---|
| NOME | Rune Dahl Fitjar |
| PRENOMES | Rune Dahl |
| SOBRENOME | Fitjar |
| ASSINATURA | FITJAR R D |
| AFILIAÇÕES | University of Stavanger |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5333-2701 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 32 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 151 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 32 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2005 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2025 |
| ÍNDICE H | 6 |
Unseen costs
Notwithstanding the wide consensus around the undeniable positive effects of innovation, there is increasing awareness that innovations may also have their dark sides. These dark sides of innovations have received little attention in regional studies. This editorial to a special issue on The Dark Side of Innovation and its Geography argues there are clear geographical footprints to this, which are related to both the inputs and the outcomes of in…
Patterns of opportunity spaces and agency across regional contexts
Non-metropolitan regions are considered more exposed to external shocks than their metropolitan counterparts, while having lower capacities to change. However, there is considerable variation among non-metropolitan regions. We argue that this variation can be captured theoretically by modelling the dynamic interplay between perceived and real opportunity spaces and agency. We empirically analyse regional change processes in 12 regions in the Nord…
The regional mission in a merged multi-campus university college
Recent years have seen an increasing institutionalisation of the regional mission of universities, coinciding with mergers of institutions from different regions to form large multi-campus universities that span across them. This study examines how such a merger has shaped the regional mission of a polycentric higher education institution in Western Norway. We find that even when the regional mission is at the core of a merged HEI’s identity, tra…
Missions, conditions and the policy transfer of Smart Specialisation in the European Union
Smart Specialisation is fundamentally a bottom-up policymaking process premised on entrepreneurial discovery and peer learning. Nonetheless, the European Union has relied on coercive policy transfer through the ex-ante funding conditionality instrument to secure its implementation across regions. This paper examines how the use of conditionality has shaped the implementation of Smart Specialisation in the European Union and its regions. Furthermo…
How regions diversify into new jobs
This paper adds a multidimensional perspective to the study of related diversification. We examine how regions diversify into new jobs – defined as unique industry-occupation combinations – asking whether they do so from related industries or related occupations. We use linked employer-employee data for all labour market regions in Norway, covering the time period 2009–2014. Diversification into new jobs is more likely in the presence of related …
Incentivizing knowledge exchange engagement
Engagement in knowledge exchange (KE) with external actors has become widely accepted as an integral mission of universities. However, research and teaching performance remain more important for career progression, while engagement activities are more weakly institutionalized. This raises the question of why academics participate in knowledge exchange engagement activities. This paper examines to what extent academics perceive that they are rewar…
Engaging for the love of place? The role of place attachment in academics’ regional engagement efforts
The third mission of universities is often conceived as a regional one, encompassing contributions to regional development and engagement with regional actors. Yet, universities are increasingly global institutions with internationally mobile faculty. This raises the question of how the embeddedness of academics in their regions shapes engagement at the regional scale. Using survey data of 625 faculty members at seven universities, we investigate…
Agency and economic change in regions
This paper investigates the role of human agency in 40 phases of regional economic development in 12 Nordic regions over 30 years. It contributes with a theoretical framework to study agency over time and a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis based on a unique dataset combining over 200 interviews, with printed and online sources, and quantitative data. The paper identifies which combinations of agency types and context conditions make ind…
What drives university-industry collaboration? Research excellence or firm collaboration strategy
Social capital and economic growth in the regions of Europe
Social capital is an important factor explaining differences in economic growth among regions. However, the key distinction between bonding social capital, which can lead to lock-in and myopia, and bridging social capital, which promotes knowledge flows across diverse groups, has been overlooked in growth research. In this paper, we address this shortcoming by examining how bonding and bridging social capital affect regional economic growth, usin…
Does Assimilation Shape the Economic Value of Immigrant Diversity
A growing literature has shown that greater diversity among immigrants offers material benefits in terms of higher wages and productivity. One limitation of existing work is that it has considered immigrants from a given country to be homogenous. However, immigrants differ in various ways, not least in their level of assimilation. This article considers how assimilation might shape diversity’s economic effects. Intuition suggests two conflicting …
Searching through the Haystack
This article examines which economic domains regional policy makers aim to develop in regional innovation strategies, focusing in particular on the complexity of those economic domains and their relatedness to other economic domains in the region. We build on the economic geography literature that advises policy makers to target related and complex economic domains, and assess the extent to which regions actually do this. The article draws on dat…
Proximity across the distant worlds of university–industry collaborations
This paper examines the extent to which firms perceive different dimensions of proximity to be important for the formation of their interactions with universities. Furthermore, it investigates whether the importance of the different types of proximities varies depending on the type of interaction—be it about knowledge exploration, knowledge exploitation, competence enhancement, advice-seeking or marketing. Using data from a survey of 1,200 Norweg…
Unrequited metropolitan mergers
The administrative boundaries of the central city almost universally cover a smaller area than its functional boundaries. Hence, central cities often supply public goods beyond their own residents. Mergers with neighbouring municipalities offer an opportunity for central cities to internalize more of these externalities. However, suburban municipalities have few incentives to support such mergers. The 2014–17 Norwegian voluntary municipal merger …
Contextualizing the role of universities to regional development
Universities are increasingly expected to provide contributions to regional innovation and economic development processes. Despite much work on how universities can contribute to regional growth processes, there is much less consideration about why universities might choose to engage in regional development. Even though they may receive public funding, universities have no specific duty to engage, and together with recent pressures to internation…
Relatedness and the Resource Curse
Literature in evolutionary economic geography has emphasized knowledge spillover benefits of co-location with related industries. We draw on resource curse literature to demonstrate that relatedness also comes with costs in the form of labor market competition. Using a case study of a growth period in the Norwegian petroleum industry, we show that this had positive as well as negative implications for related industries. Industries related to pet…
Why do firms collaborate with local universities
This paper examines why firms sometimes collaborate locally rather than with higher-quality universities at a distance. Existing research has mostly relied on the localized knowledge spillover (LKS) model to explain this. This model holds that knowledge transfer across distance is costly, and collaborating locally reduces the risk of information loss when the knowledge is transferred. However, there are various other reasons that could also expla…
The core in the periphery? The cluster organization as the central node in the Apulian aerospace district
Cluster policy is often ineffective in peripheral regions with weak institutions and significant barriers to knowledge production and exchange. Nonetheless, many peripheral regions have pursued such policies in recent years, an example being technology districts in southern Italy. This paper examines one such district – the aerospace district in Apulia – where policy has focused on indirect support for networking through coordination. This has le…
Hooked up to the international artistic community
The contemporary economy is marked both by the growth in international trade and the increasing importance of the creative industries. However, these activities are dominated by big firms and big cities, spurring a large body of research into creative cities in the last decade. Going against this trend, this paper examines how small creative firms in small cities can successfully export their products. Drawing on survey data from 464 small firms …
Interaction and Innovation across Different Sectors
Interaction and innovation across different sectors: findings from Norwegian city-regions, Regional Studies. This article examines how different types of interaction are related to the capacity of firms to innovate in different sectors. Using a sample of 1604 Norwegian firms with more than ten employees, it analyses how interactions within the business group, with industry partners, and with research institutions and consultancies impinge on the …
Networking, context and firm-level innovation
Global pipelines for innovation
Using data on 418 Norwegian firms, the results confirm the hypotheses that innovative/radically innovative firms tend to be more involved in international personal and formal networks than non-innovative/incrementally innovative ones. While regional and national networks are much more widespread than international ones, they are not significantly positively associated with innovation. International personal networks and international links with s…
The geographical dimension of innovation collaboration
This paper looks at the geographical dimension of firm networking in Norway, by examining the impact of manager-level, firm-level and regional-level variables on the decisions of firms to collaborate with partners at different levels of geographical distance. Using data stemming from a survey of 1604 businesses in five Norwegian city-regions, we model firms’ use of partners located within the region, elsewhere in the country and abroad, respectiv…
Firm collaboration and modes of innovation in Norway
How Open is Open Innovation?
Explaining variation in sub‐state regional identities in Western Europe
While national identities emerged as the dominant source of territorial identification during the twentieth century, sub‐state regional identities are becoming increasingly important in some Western European regions. However, this is not a uniform development. In some regions, nearly half of respondents in Eurobarometer surveys claim a stronger attachment to the region than to the state. In others, less than 4 per cent are primarily attached to t…
Agency and economic change in regions
This paper investigates the role of human agency in 40 phases of regional economic development in 12 Nordic regions over 30 years. It contributes with a theoretical framework to study agency over time and a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis based on a unique dataset combining over 200 interviews, with printed and online sources, and quantitative data. The paper identifies which combinations of agency types and context conditions make ind…
Contextualizing the role of universities to regional development
Universities are increasingly expected to provide contributions to regional innovation and economic development processes. Despite much work on how universities can contribute to regional growth processes, there is much less consideration about why universities might choose to engage in regional development. Even though they may receive public funding, universities have no specific duty to engage, and together with recent pressures to internation…
When Local Interaction Does Not Suffice
The geographical sources of innovation of firms have been hotly debated. While the traditional view is that physical proximity within city-regions is key for the innovative capacity of firms, the literature on 'global pipelines' has been stressing the importance of establishing communication channels to the outside world. This paper uses a specifically tailored survey of the level of innovation of 1604 firms of more than ten employees located in …
Region‐building in the arctic periphery
As social communities, regions are built through discourses that convey images of what the region is. Regions are built for a variety of reasons, including political and economic ones. This implies that changing economic circumstances have the potential to change the discourses on regional identities. Petroleum discoveries represent such a potential change in the economic circumstances of a region. This study of an emerging petroleum region in th…
Social capital and economic growth in the regions of Europe
Social capital is an important factor explaining differences in economic growth among regions. However, the key distinction between bonding social capital, which can lead to lock-in and myopia, and bridging social capital, which promotes knowledge flows across diverse groups, has been overlooked in growth research. In this paper, we address this shortcoming by examining how bonding and bridging social capital affect regional economic growth, usin…
Why do firms collaborate with local universities
This paper examines why firms sometimes collaborate locally rather than with higher-quality universities at a distance. Existing research has mostly relied on the localized knowledge spillover (LKS) model to explain this. This model holds that knowledge transfer across distance is costly, and collaborating locally reduces the risk of information loss when the knowledge is transferred. However, there are various other reasons that could also expla…
Global pipelines for innovation
Using data on 418 Norwegian firms, the results confirm the hypotheses that innovative/radically innovative firms tend to be more involved in international personal and formal networks than non-innovative/incrementally innovative ones. While regional and national networks are much more widespread than international ones, they are not significantly positively associated with innovation. International personal networks and international links with s…
Unseen costs
Notwithstanding the wide consensus around the undeniable positive effects of innovation, there is increasing awareness that innovations may also have their dark sides. These dark sides of innovations have received little attention in regional studies. This editorial to a special issue on The Dark Side of Innovation and its Geography argues there are clear geographical footprints to this, which are related to both the inputs and the outcomes of in…
The core in the periphery? The cluster organization as the central node in the Apulian aerospace district
Cluster policy is often ineffective in peripheral regions with weak institutions and significant barriers to knowledge production and exchange. Nonetheless, many peripheral regions have pursued such policies in recent years, an example being technology districts in southern Italy. This paper examines one such district – the aerospace district in Apulia – where policy has focused on indirect support for networking through coordination. This has le…
Networking, context and firm-level innovation
How regions diversify into new jobs
This paper adds a multidimensional perspective to the study of related diversification. We examine how regions diversify into new jobs – defined as unique industry-occupation combinations – asking whether they do so from related industries or related occupations. We use linked employer-employee data for all labour market regions in Norway, covering the time period 2009–2014. Diversification into new jobs is more likely in the presence of related …
Engaging for the love of place? The role of place attachment in academics’ regional engagement efforts
The third mission of universities is often conceived as a regional one, encompassing contributions to regional development and engagement with regional actors. Yet, universities are increasingly global institutions with internationally mobile faculty. This raises the question of how the embeddedness of academics in their regions shapes engagement at the regional scale. Using survey data of 625 faculty members at seven universities, we investigate…
Searching through the Haystack
This article examines which economic domains regional policy makers aim to develop in regional innovation strategies, focusing in particular on the complexity of those economic domains and their relatedness to other economic domains in the region. We build on the economic geography literature that advises policy makers to target related and complex economic domains, and assess the extent to which regions actually do this. The article draws on dat…
Patterns of opportunity spaces and agency across regional contexts
Non-metropolitan regions are considered more exposed to external shocks than their metropolitan counterparts, while having lower capacities to change. However, there is considerable variation among non-metropolitan regions. We argue that this variation can be captured theoretically by modelling the dynamic interplay between perceived and real opportunity spaces and agency. We empirically analyse regional change processes in 12 regions in the Nord…
Proximity across the distant worlds of university–industry collaborations
This paper examines the extent to which firms perceive different dimensions of proximity to be important for the formation of their interactions with universities. Furthermore, it investigates whether the importance of the different types of proximities varies depending on the type of interaction—be it about knowledge exploration, knowledge exploitation, competence enhancement, advice-seeking or marketing. Using data from a survey of 1,200 Norweg…
Unrequited metropolitan mergers
The administrative boundaries of the central city almost universally cover a smaller area than its functional boundaries. Hence, central cities often supply public goods beyond their own residents. Mergers with neighbouring municipalities offer an opportunity for central cities to internalize more of these externalities. However, suburban municipalities have few incentives to support such mergers. The 2014–17 Norwegian voluntary municipal merger …
Relatedness and the Resource Curse
Literature in evolutionary economic geography has emphasized knowledge spillover benefits of co-location with related industries. We draw on resource curse literature to demonstrate that relatedness also comes with costs in the form of labor market competition. Using a case study of a growth period in the Norwegian petroleum industry, we show that this had positive as well as negative implications for related industries. Industries related to pet…
The geographical dimension of innovation collaboration
This paper looks at the geographical dimension of firm networking in Norway, by examining the impact of manager-level, firm-level and regional-level variables on the decisions of firms to collaborate with partners at different levels of geographical distance. Using data stemming from a survey of 1604 businesses in five Norwegian city-regions, we model firms’ use of partners located within the region, elsewhere in the country and abroad, respectiv…
Measuring regionalism
So far, most research on regionalism has applied qualitative research methods. However, a quantitative methodology would be an important complement, allowing researchers to test hypotheses and reach more general conclusions about the causes and effects of regionalism. The main problem facing the would-be quantitative researcher is the lack of data on regional identities, particularly before the 1990s. This article aims to remedy this problem by i…
Missions, conditions and the policy transfer of Smart Specialisation in the European Union
Smart Specialisation is fundamentally a bottom-up policymaking process premised on entrepreneurial discovery and peer learning. Nonetheless, the European Union has relied on coercive policy transfer through the ex-ante funding conditionality instrument to secure its implementation across regions. This paper examines how the use of conditionality has shaped the implementation of Smart Specialisation in the European Union and its regions. Furthermo…
European Capitals of Culture
Who participates in the European Capital of Culture? This article analyses participation in Stavanger, European Capital of Culture (ECOC) in 2008, drawing on data from a survey conducted among a cross-section of the population of the city and its closest surrounds. It examines whether there is systematic variation in the number and type of events attended across key social background characteristics such as gender, age, education and income, as w…
Building Regions on Economic Success
This article presents a political economy perspective on the growth of regionalism in Rogaland, where ever more political issues have been viewed through a regional lens over the last fifteen years. Rogaland has also experienced an economic boom since the 1970s, when it became the hub of Norway's oil adventures in the North Sea. The question is whether these developments are connected, and more specifically, whether the newfound economic prosperi…
Measuring regionalism
So far, most research on regionalism has applied qualitative research methods. However, a quantitative methodology would be an important complement, allowing researchers to test hypotheses and reach more general conclusions about the causes and effects of regionalism. The main problem facing the would-be quantitative researcher is the lack of data on regional identities, particularly before the 1990s. This article aims to remedy this problem by i…
Building Regions on Economic Success
This article presents a political economy perspective on the growth of regionalism in Rogaland, where ever more political issues have been viewed through a regional lens over the last fifteen years. Rogaland has also experienced an economic boom since the 1970s, when it became the hub of Norway's oil adventures in the North Sea. The question is whether these developments are connected, and more specifically, whether the newfound economic prosperi…
Explaining variation in sub‐state regional identities in Western Europe
While national identities emerged as the dominant source of territorial identification during the twentieth century, sub‐state regional identities are becoming increasingly important in some Western European regions. However, this is not a uniform development. In some regions, nearly half of respondents in Eurobarometer surveys claim a stronger attachment to the region than to the state. In others, less than 4 per cent are primarily attached to t…
Innovating in the Periphery
How do peripheral and relatively isolated regions innovate? Recent research has tended to stress the importance of agglomeration economies and geographical proximity as key motors of innovation. According to this research, large core areas have significant advantages with respect to peripheral areas in innovation potential. Yet, despite these trends, some remote areas of the periphery are remarkably innovative even in the absence of critical inno…
European Capitals of Culture
Who participates in the European Capital of Culture? This article analyses participation in Stavanger, European Capital of Culture (ECOC) in 2008, drawing on data from a survey conducted among a cross-section of the population of the city and its closest surrounds. It examines whether there is systematic variation in the number and type of events attended across key social background characteristics such as gender, age, education and income, as w…
When Local Interaction Does Not Suffice
The geographical sources of innovation of firms have been hotly debated. While the traditional view is that physical proximity within city-regions is key for the innovative capacity of firms, the literature on 'global pipelines' has been stressing the importance of establishing communication channels to the outside world. This paper uses a specifically tailored survey of the level of innovation of 1604 firms of more than ten employees located in …
Firm collaboration and modes of innovation in Norway
How Open is Open Innovation?
Region‐building in the arctic periphery
As social communities, regions are built through discourses that convey images of what the region is. Regions are built for a variety of reasons, including political and economic ones. This implies that changing economic circumstances have the potential to change the discourses on regional identities. Petroleum discoveries represent such a potential change in the economic circumstances of a region. This study of an emerging petroleum region in th…
Global pipelines for innovation
Using data on 418 Norwegian firms, the results confirm the hypotheses that innovative/radically innovative firms tend to be more involved in international personal and formal networks than non-innovative/incrementally innovative ones. While regional and national networks are much more widespread than international ones, they are not significantly positively associated with innovation. International personal networks and international links with s…
The geographical dimension of innovation collaboration
This paper looks at the geographical dimension of firm networking in Norway, by examining the impact of manager-level, firm-level and regional-level variables on the decisions of firms to collaborate with partners at different levels of geographical distance. Using data stemming from a survey of 1604 businesses in five Norwegian city-regions, we model firms’ use of partners located within the region, elsewhere in the country and abroad, respectiv…
Interaction and Innovation across Different Sectors
Interaction and innovation across different sectors: findings from Norwegian city-regions, Regional Studies. This article examines how different types of interaction are related to the capacity of firms to innovate in different sectors. Using a sample of 1604 Norwegian firms with more than ten employees, it analyses how interactions within the business group, with industry partners, and with research institutions and consultancies impinge on the …
Networking, context and firm-level innovation
Hooked up to the international artistic community
The contemporary economy is marked both by the growth in international trade and the increasing importance of the creative industries. However, these activities are dominated by big firms and big cities, spurring a large body of research into creative cities in the last decade. Going against this trend, this paper examines how small creative firms in small cities can successfully export their products. Drawing on survey data from 464 small firms …
Why do firms collaborate with local universities
This paper examines why firms sometimes collaborate locally rather than with higher-quality universities at a distance. Existing research has mostly relied on the localized knowledge spillover (LKS) model to explain this. This model holds that knowledge transfer across distance is costly, and collaborating locally reduces the risk of information loss when the knowledge is transferred. However, there are various other reasons that could also expla…
The core in the periphery? The cluster organization as the central node in the Apulian aerospace district
Cluster policy is often ineffective in peripheral regions with weak institutions and significant barriers to knowledge production and exchange. Nonetheless, many peripheral regions have pursued such policies in recent years, an example being technology districts in southern Italy. This paper examines one such district – the aerospace district in Apulia – where policy has focused on indirect support for networking through coordination. This has le…
Unrequited metropolitan mergers
The administrative boundaries of the central city almost universally cover a smaller area than its functional boundaries. Hence, central cities often supply public goods beyond their own residents. Mergers with neighbouring municipalities offer an opportunity for central cities to internalize more of these externalities. However, suburban municipalities have few incentives to support such mergers. The 2014–17 Norwegian voluntary municipal merger …
Contextualizing the role of universities to regional development
Universities are increasingly expected to provide contributions to regional innovation and economic development processes. Despite much work on how universities can contribute to regional growth processes, there is much less consideration about why universities might choose to engage in regional development. Even though they may receive public funding, universities have no specific duty to engage, and together with recent pressures to internation…
Relatedness and the Resource Curse
Literature in evolutionary economic geography has emphasized knowledge spillover benefits of co-location with related industries. We draw on resource curse literature to demonstrate that relatedness also comes with costs in the form of labor market competition. Using a case study of a growth period in the Norwegian petroleum industry, we show that this had positive as well as negative implications for related industries. Industries related to pet…
Proximity across the distant worlds of university–industry collaborations
This paper examines the extent to which firms perceive different dimensions of proximity to be important for the formation of their interactions with universities. Furthermore, it investigates whether the importance of the different types of proximities varies depending on the type of interaction—be it about knowledge exploration, knowledge exploitation, competence enhancement, advice-seeking or marketing. Using data from a survey of 1,200 Norweg…
What drives university-industry collaboration? Research excellence or firm collaboration strategy
Social capital and economic growth in the regions of Europe
Social capital is an important factor explaining differences in economic growth among regions. However, the key distinction between bonding social capital, which can lead to lock-in and myopia, and bridging social capital, which promotes knowledge flows across diverse groups, has been overlooked in growth research. In this paper, we address this shortcoming by examining how bonding and bridging social capital affect regional economic growth, usin…
Does Assimilation Shape the Economic Value of Immigrant Diversity
A growing literature has shown that greater diversity among immigrants offers material benefits in terms of higher wages and productivity. One limitation of existing work is that it has considered immigrants from a given country to be homogenous. However, immigrants differ in various ways, not least in their level of assimilation. This article considers how assimilation might shape diversity’s economic effects. Intuition suggests two conflicting …
Searching through the Haystack
This article examines which economic domains regional policy makers aim to develop in regional innovation strategies, focusing in particular on the complexity of those economic domains and their relatedness to other economic domains in the region. We build on the economic geography literature that advises policy makers to target related and complex economic domains, and assess the extent to which regions actually do this. The article draws on dat…
Engaging for the love of place? The role of place attachment in academics’ regional engagement efforts
The third mission of universities is often conceived as a regional one, encompassing contributions to regional development and engagement with regional actors. Yet, universities are increasingly global institutions with internationally mobile faculty. This raises the question of how the embeddedness of academics in their regions shapes engagement at the regional scale. Using survey data of 625 faculty members at seven universities, we investigate…
Economic geography (21 obras) · Economics (21 obras) · Business (19 obras) · Geography (18 obras) · Political science (18 obras) · Regional science (13 obras) · Regional Development and Policy (11 obras) · Sociology (11 obras) · Computer Science (9 obras) · Innovation and Knowledge Management (9 obras)