Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/vrs/eurcou/v16y2024i3p412-436n1003.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Unveiling the Resources of Digital Pioneers: an Agency Perspective on Digital Social Innovation in Rural Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Mettenberger Tobias

    (Thünen Institute of Rural Studies, Braunschweig, Germany)

  • Binder Julia

    (Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus – Senftenberg, Germany)

  • Zscherneck Julia

    (Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus – Senftenberg, Germany)

Abstract
Rural digitalisation is often approached from a structural research perspective, focusing on broadband infrastructure and socio-economic contextual conditions. Such perspectives tend to neglect the agency of individual and collective actors in these areas. Our comparative case study addresses this gap by focusing on Digital Pioneers in two structurally different rural regions in Germany. Our analysis of 40 semi-structured qualitative interviews with selected pioneers is based on the research question of how these key actors access resources to realise digital social innovation. A categorization of our data shows three general patterns: Access to motivational resources on an individual level, access to network-based resources through various types of social relationships, as well as access to region-based resources by analytically linking agency and socio-spatial contextual conditions. We conclude that Digital Pioneers can become intermediary key players in regional governance constellations. At the same time, additional policy support or reversion is needed to facilitate access to network- and region-based resources in particular.

Suggested Citation

  • Mettenberger Tobias & Binder Julia & Zscherneck Julia, 2024. "Unveiling the Resources of Digital Pioneers: an Agency Perspective on Digital Social Innovation in Rural Germany," European Countryside, Sciendo, vol. 16(3), pages 412-436.
    • Handle: RePEc:vrs:eurcou:v:16:y:2024:i:3:p:412-436:n:1003
    DOI: 10.2478/euco-2024-0022
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.2478/euco-2024-0022
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2478/euco-2024-0022?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:vrs:eurcou:v:16:y:2024:i:3:p:412-436:n:1003. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.sciendo.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.