Locked in Transition: Examining the Role of Paradoxical Tensions in the Transition From Industrial Cluster to Eco‐Clusters
基于对土耳其纺织回收集群的48次深度访谈和二手数据，研究了产业集群向生态集群转型中出现的三种相互交织的悖论张力（双元性、合作竞争、身份认同），并分析了它们如何被经济波动、治理碎片化等情境条件放大，导致转型陷入多重锁定。
ABSTRACT Industrial clusters are central to the circular economy transition, yet how they develop into eco‐clusters and the paradoxical tensions this transformation fuels remain underexplored. Drawing on 48 in‐depth interviews and secondary data from a Turkish textile‐recycling cluster, we develop an empirically grounded model of eco‐cluster transition showing three intertwined paradoxical tensions: ambidexterity (mass recycling vs. circular innovation), coopetition (solidarity vs. rivalry) and identity (rag recycler vs. circular pioneer). These tensions reinforce one another and are amplified by contextual conditions such as economic volatility, fragmented governance and cultural‐material realities, which collectively produce multiple, mutually reinforcing lock‐ins that challenge the eco‐cluster transformation journey. Our study extends paradox theory to the cluster level by specifying how ambidexterity, coopetition and identity tensions manifest and interact at the meso level. It also advances eco‐cluster research by theorizing eco‐cluster transitions as paradoxical and elevating the active role of contextual boundary conditions.