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Employee Ownership as local economic resilience: Evidence from Scotland

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: This paper examines employee ownership (EO) as a form of collective entrepreneurial succession within regional entrepreneurial ecosystems. Drawing on qualitative case evidence from Scotland, the study explores how EO transitions are motivated, enacted, and experienced as alternatives to trade sale, private equity acquisition, or firm closure in regions. The findings show that EO is frequently chosen by founders of locally embedded small and medium-sized enterprises to preserve organizational culture, retain skilled employment, and maintain local decision-making. Rather than marking an endpoint of entrepreneurship, EO redistributes entrepreneurial agency among employees, requiring them to assume governance and strategic responsibilities previously held by founders and owner-managers. The analysis further demonstrates that EO can support local value retention and resilience, while remaining contingent on governance capability, and institutional support. Conceptually, the paper reframes EO as an entrepreneurial transition mechanism that sustains locally embedded economic activity within regional development systems.

Source: Local Development & Society

DOI: 10.1080/26883597.2026.2726359

Authors: Oliver Browne, Graeme Nuttall

Institutions: University College Cork, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, University of Oxford

Language: English

Topic: Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences

Subfield: Management of Technology and Innovation

Field: Business, Management and Accounting

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Decent work and economic growth

Open Access status: green

Funders: University College Cork, School of Management and Labor Relations