The (Un)Realised Potential of Second-Home Owners: A Nuanced Perspective on Their Role in Rural Development

While previous studies portray second-home owners as latent resources for revitalising rural regions, this study shifts the analytical focus to business managers and municipal representatives, examining how they perceive second-home owners and their potential contributions. Drawing on empirical insights from Norway, the findings indicate that second-home owners are primarily regarded as customers and sources of financial capital, with engagement largely confined to recreational matters. Although occasional win-win outcomes occur, broader developmental impacts are difficult to realise in dense and clustered second-home developments, where interactions with local actors remain informal and sporadic. However, outcomes vary with ownership motivations and contexts. Within this setting, municipalities emerge as key actors in shaping development trajectories by ensuring predictability while balancing competing interests. The study advances theory by reconceptualising displaced buzz and proposing a transferable framework linking ownership motivation, spatial form, and place-based municipal leadership in shaping the mobilisation of various forms of capital.