The Role of Spatial Scale in Institutional Processes

This paper delves into the increasingly recognized role of spatial scale in institutional processes. Drawing on insights from Human Geography, we elaborate a conjoined view on spatial scale that goes beyond the extant focus on institutional places in geographic locations, to consider them in relation to also institutional territories in geographic planes, and institutional orders and institutional interlinkages in geographic clusters. We propose that these four focal spaces of institutional processes are enacted through four (re)scaling practices discussed in Human Geography, namely territorialization, place-making, hierarchization, and reticulation. These practices offer a comprehensive framework for paying greater attention to a core characteristic of institutional processes: Their ability to reach beyond single organizations or locations. By integrating these practices into institutional analysis, our paper reveals how spatial scale not only serves as a backdrop for, but actively co-constitutes institutional processes.