How knowledge brokers emerge and evolve: The role of actors’ behaviour

Boari, Cristina; Riboldazzi, Federico

doi:10.1016/j.respol.2014.01.007

Cited by 85 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…SMEs in clusters need to have a strong knowledge codification capability in order to reinforce their absorptive capacity and extend its range, and we know that they meet with difficulties in this regard. Several scholars have investigated the role of knowledge gatekeepers that certain organisations (firms or institutions) belonging to a cluster can have, supporting the rest of the cluster (Molina-Morales, 2005;Morrison, 2008;Grandinetti, 2011;Boari & Riboldazzi, 2014). Institutional gatekeepers are of particular interest because it is up to them to serve as an effective local-global cognitive interface.…”

Section: Smes In Geographical Clusters: the Pros And Cons Of Cognitivmentioning

confidence: 99%

Absorptive capacity and knowledge management in small and medium enterprises

Grandinetti

2016

Knowledge Management Research & Practice

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Studies on knowledge management have generated an awareness that it is fundamentally important for small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to be able to exploit sources of knowledge outside the firm by means of external relationships, but this understanding has not been followed up by an adequate theoretical and empirical research effort to analyse the role of relationships in an SME's knowledge management processes. The present contribution first sketches this gap on the grounds of the available literature reviews. Then it proposes a framework -focusing the concept of absorptive capacity -with a view to filling this theoretical gap. Finally, based on the proposed framework, two specific topics of considerable importance to SMEs are discussed: (i) how capabilities are developed in the start-up phase of a new venture; and (ii) knowledge processes in geographical clusters.

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Section: Smes In Geographical Clusters: the Pros And Cons Of Cognitivmentioning

confidence: 99%

Absorptive capacity and knowledge management in small and medium enterprises

Grandinetti

2016

Knowledge Management Research & Practice

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“…Specifically, Marsden () defined brokerage as a process by which intermediary actors facilitate transactions between other actors lacking access to or trust in one another . In research on innovation management, the concept of knowledge broker is identified as the role played by particular actors (individuals or organizations) that are able to connect different communities, thus generating flows of knowledge between them (Boari and Riboldazzi ; Hargadon ).…”

Section: Theoretical Framework and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct and Interactive Effects of Brokerage Roles on Innovation in Clustered Firms

Boari¹,

Molina‐Morales²,

Martínez-Cháfer³

2016

Growth and Change

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Social network analysis has generated a great number of research findings in organizational and management literatures. Moreover, the so-called territorial clusters have been represented through the network metaphor. However, while scholars primarily examine the network structure and the internal heterogeneity, we have particularly analyzed the diverse types or roles of informational brokers which firms can develop. Furthermore, we posit that innovation generated by these firms is moderated by their own capabilities. Particularly, we analyze how innovation is affected by brokerage roles and the moderating effect of R&D in the Spanish ceramic tile cluster.Our results show that different brokerage roles played by clustered firms have different implications in terms of innovation. We found that some of them are positively associated to and others are not. Another relevant and related result refers to the interactive effect of brokerage roles and absorptive capacity some of them become more significant than others.

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“…However, with the exception of the descriptive contributions [25], increasing attention has recently been paid to the appearance, persistence and extinction of these bridging positions [26][27][28][29][30]. Additionally, in spite of the dynamic conceptualization of the phenomena, measurements and empirical data have mainly remained within the realm of static approaches [31].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamics of Brokerage Positions in Clusters: Evidence from the Spanish Foodstuffs Industry

et al. 2017

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Shifting away from traditional approaches orientated towards the analysis of the benefits associated with brokerage, this paper provides valuable insights into the dynamics of this network position and the opportunities to innovate that it provides. Using fine grain micro data collected in a foodstuff Spanish cluster, the evolution of different brokerage profiles is analyzed in depth. It was particularly evident how firm-level characteristics (status, former mediating experience and external openness) and their interactions may generate changes in the different brokerage roles over a period of time. The findings of this work partially validate expectations based on the network dynamics approaches. Status and previous mediating experience facilitate the creation of partnerships, fostering brokerage. Conversely, interaction effects demote brokerage activity at the intra-cluster level, suggesting the selective nature of brokers' relational behavior.

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How knowledge brokers emerge and evolve: The role of actors’ behaviour

Cited by 85 publications

References 53 publications

Absorptive capacity and knowledge management in small and medium enterprises

Absorptive capacity and knowledge management in small and medium enterprises

Direct and Interactive Effects of Brokerage Roles on Innovation in Clustered Firms

Dynamics of Brokerage Positions in Clusters: Evidence from the Spanish Foodstuffs Industry

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