The integration void: knowledge-integrated governance in digital place innovation

Purpose This paper aims to examine how governance structures and actor dynamics shape knowledge integration in digital place innovation. Collaborative governance research emphasizes coordination and consensus-building, but less is known about how municipalities and private firms integrate heterogeneous knowledge systems when co-creating digital solutions for urban centers. Conceptualizing digital place innovation as an epistemic process of translation, this study introduces the concept of knowledge-integrated governance and asks: how do governance structures and actor dynamics, both between and within organizations, shape knowledge integration in digital place innovation? Design/methodology/approach This study uses a three-year embedded research design within a Swedish municipal organization, in which the author participated actively in digital innovation processes while maintaining sustained reflexive practice. Data collection includes in-depth interviews spanning municipal administration, elected officials and commercial and civic actors, alongside dialogic workshops. Episodes were selected through theoretical sampling, focusing on moments where collaboration became unsettled or ambiguous. Two condensed cases were constructed as analytically focused reconstructions. Analysis followed an abductive logic with Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) as the integrative lens, complemented by collaborative governance, institutional logics and institutional work. Findings Three interconnected patterns are identified: unclear mandates and dispersed responsibility, divergent understandings of digital place innovation both between and within organizations and fragmented translation work dependent on individual initiative. Together, these constitute an integration void, defined as the structural absence of mechanisms for bridging epistemic differences. Collaboration rarely collapses through conflict but through gradual drift, as promising initiatives fail to consolidate and learning remains unanchored. This study further identifies WIL as an infrastructural governance capability that can stabilize epistemic work beyond individual actors and temporary project cycles. Originality/value This paper contributes to place management research by reframing collaboration problems as epistemic rather than solely structural challenges, and by showing that governance failure manifests not primarily through conflict but through gradual drift when knowledge integration lacks institutional anchoring. It introduces the concept of knowledge-integrated governance as an analytical framework for place-based digital innovation. By repositioning WIL from an educational concept to an infrastructural governance capability, this study offers new theoretical tools for understanding and designing arrangements that support sustained epistemic negotiation across organizational boundaries.