Geography, networks, and knowledge flow
Geography, networks, and knowledge flow
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DOI：
10.1287/orsc.1070.0308
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发表时间：
2007-11-01
影响因子：
4.1
通讯作者：
Zaheer, Akbar
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bell, Geoffrey G.;Zaheer, Akbar
知识--与企业创新能力密切相关--通过在不同分析级别运行的网络，跨越组织边界和地理空间进行访问。然而，我们对地理对跨越不同类型关系的组织边界的知识流动的相对影响知之甚少，尽管有人警告说，研究需要考虑关系的地理背景，以充分理解因果关系。结合77家加拿大共同基金公司的一手和二手数据，我们发现，只有当机构层面的联系在地理上接近时，这种联系才在知识传播中具有价值。无论地理位置如何，组织一级的联系都不能充当知识的传播者。有趣的是，我们发现，地理上相距遥远的个人层面的友谊关系是知识流动的优越管道，这表明它们跨越了“地理漏洞”。
Knowledge-which is closely linked to firm innovativeness-is accessed across organizational boundaries and geographic space via networks operating at different levels of analysis. However, we know tantalizingly little about the comparative influence of geography on knowledge flow across organizational boundaries over different types of ties, despite warnings that research needs to account for the geographic context of ties to fully understand causal relationships. Using a combination of primary and secondary data on 77 Canadian mutual fund companies, we find that institutional-level ties are valuable in knowledge transmission only when such ties are geographically proximate. Organization-level ties fail to act as transmitters of knowledge, regardless of geographic location. Interestingly, we find that geographically distant individual-level friendship ties are superior conduits for knowledge flow, which suggests they span "geographic holes.".