Institutional relatedness and the emergence of renewable energy cooperatives in German districts
研究了2006至2016年间德国各地区可再生能源合作社的兴起，发现当地其他行业的合作社通过提供组织知识和合法性，促进了可再生能源合作社的创立。
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.