REGIONAL SOCIAL NETWORKS AS CONDUITSFOR KNOWLEDGE SPILLOVERS: EXPLAININGPERFORMANCE OF HIGH-TECH FIRMS

摘要

The purpose of this paper is to open the 'black box' of knowledge spillovers by testing the extentto 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 spilloversoccur across firms operating in similar or dissimilar fields. Our empirical examination of thedebate relies on a dataset that is constructed from three sources: firm-level data of 1,881 high-techfirms in all 40 Dutch regions, regional economic data and network data constructed from themembership registrations of all business associations in a sample of 11 regions. The results showthat 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. Withregards to the Marshall-Jacobs controversy, the results show that having local links to other high-techfirms is conducive to a firm's employment growth, while links to other types of firms providedno such lift.