Network organizational capabilities for scaling co-created sustainability solutions: The Nordic countries as a testbed

The Nordic countries are widely recognized for their democratic governance, decentralized authority, and trust-based participatory cultures, which are ostensibly conditions that provide fertile grounds for co-created sustainability transitions. However, while such environments might improve the successful design and implementation of niche-level, locally embedded co-created solutions, they do not necessarily guarantee their subsequent scaling. This article examines why some sustainability initiatives are scaled while others do not, despite being embedded in similarly favorable governance conditions. Drawing on the extant literature, we theorize three interdependent network organizational capabilities that underpin the scaling of co-created sustainability solutions: stakeholder anchorage (the alignment and sustained commitment of key actors and legitimacy networks), programmatic integration (the embedding of co-created initiatives within reflexive scaling policies, strategies, and operational frameworks), and resourcing capacity (the institutional ability to mobilize and sustain financial, material, and in-kind resources). We test this framework through a comparative analysis of four Nordic cases from Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, which together provide a controlled governance setting for examining how the presence (or absence) of these capabilities shapes scaling outcomes. The findings demonstrate that while each capability addresses distinct barriers to scaling, none is sufficient on its own. Rather, scaling success depends on their mutual interdependence and cumulative layering, which jointly generate the relational and institutional capacity necessary for moving co-created sustainability solutions from local experimentation to upward institutional uptake and outward expansion.