Knowledge exchange behaviours of science park firms: the innovation hub case

This paper regards the knowledge flows between firms located on a science park as a type of network behaviour and answers three research questions: (1) What are the knowledge exchange behaviours of on-park firms? (2) Can we distinguish different types of behaviour among these firms?, and if so, (3) What are differences between these groups? We take a relational approach in which actor and relationship features are studied in a sample of firms located at the Innovation Hub (South Africa). Results show that there are two groups of firms: on-park firms that network with other on-park firms (Group 1) and those that do not (Group 0). Compared with Group 0, Group 1 has more informal ties with off-park firms; is able to gain more useful knowledge from private knowledge sources; and has more access to unintended knowledge that flows in the park. However, the innovative performance of the groups does not differ.