REGIONAL SOCIAL NETWORKS AS CONDUITS FOR KNOWLEDGE SPILLOVERS: EXPLAINING PERFORMANCE OF HIGH-TECH FIRMS

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to open the ‘black box’ of knowledge spillovers by testing the extent to which social interactions between firms in a region positively contribute to firm performance. Specifically, we examine the Marshall‐Jacobs controversy, a debate over whether these spillove...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie 2009-04, Vol.100 (2), p.183-197
Main Authors: BOSHUIZEN, JOHANNES, GEURTS, PETER, VAN DER VEEN, ANNE
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
agglomerations
Associations
Economic geography
Employment
Enterprises
firm performance
Human geography
Knowledge
Knowledge spillovers
Membership
multi-level analysis
Multidimensional analysis
Netherlands
Networks
Organizational Effectiveness
Participation
Production
Social capital
Social Networks
the Netherlands
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Summary:ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to open the ‘black box’ of knowledge spillovers by testing the extent to which social interactions between firms in a region positively contribute to firm performance. Specifically, we examine the Marshall‐Jacobs controversy, a debate over whether these spillovers occur across firms operating in similar or dissimilar fields. Our empirical examination of the debate relies on a dataset that is constructed from three sources: firm‐level data of 1,881 high‐tech firms in all 40 Dutch regions, regional economic data and network data constructed from the membership registrations of all business associations in a sample of 11 regions. The results show that the total amount of regional network activity has no effect on individual firm performance; however, participation in local business networks does support firm employment growth. With regards to the Marshall‐Jacobs controversy, the results show that having local links to other high‐tech firms is conducive to a firm's employment growth, while links to other types of firms provided no such lift.
ISSN:0040-747X
1467-9663
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9663.2009.00528.x