Toward an understanding of organization place building in communities

Abstract

This research introduces the concept of the organization as a co-constructor of place in their community. A review of the literature from across the disciplines of sociology, cultural geography and management informed the design and construction of a set of models that describe and explain how organizations construct place. This study was undertaken to discover the role of an organization in the construction of place in their community. Two premises underlie this study. The first is that organizations can be more efficient and effective if they can recognize the value of building place in their community. The second premise is that issues relative to constructing place are largely grounded in the notion that organizations behave in a community in a number of ways, some of which are likely to make a more positive contribution to the community. In this grounded theory study, several models emerged that help explain how an organization constructs place including a typology of organizations that casts or places an organization into one of four types. The typology reflects an organization's strategic intentions and behaviors associated with how they construct place in their community. Each typology, grounded in the data, can be a useful tool in assessing an organizations contributions and the outcome of their community interactions.