The co-evolution of institutions and stakeholders in creating new industries

We examine different government levels in China as institutional entrepreneurs that co-evolve with other stakeholders in the emerging ride-sharing and bike-sharing industries there. We find that various requirements and demands of the central government and other stakeholders help to mold institutions. Meanwhile, different types of governance models on a meso-level are identified by differentiating local governments’ attitudes and stakeholders’ feedback with respect to institutional formation and implementation. Overall, our study contributes to the literature on co-evolution and institutional entrepreneurship by presenting the local governments’ governance modes in helping to seed new industries.