Abstract
This research investigates the process of Knowledge Spillover (KS), i.e. the unintended
transmission of knowledge (Fallah and I5 8brahim, 2004) that has the capacity to benefit all
kinds of firms, in a given region, including those that are non-innovative or lack resources to
invest in R&D. Therefore, propagating KS should be a priority for policy-making because of
its potential to improve regional innovation performance. However, policy makers may not
understand KS in this way, as according to the OECD (2018), KS can be a drawback for
innovative firms because these firms do not want to share their knowledge with competitors
and lose competitive advantage to them. Moreover, an extensive literature review identified
that the process by which KS happens at the regional level has not been fully explained. What
was found in the literature review were studies that explain KS through a single, or a group of
channels of KS, but they do not explore the process of KS by using a representative set of
channels that can reflect KS propagation at the regional level. Thus, the current research,
through a mixed methods approach, seeks to explain the process of KS at the regional level.
Fifteen channels of KS were identified and tested through a survey administered to 7,292 firms
(with a response rate of 6.02%) in four regions: South East Ireland, North East Brazil,
Bucharest-Ilfov Romania, and Castilla-La Mancha Spain. Following the quantitative analysis,
24 interviews were conducted with two categories of key informants: regional stakeholders and
experts on KS and innovation (KSIexperts), to determine how KS happens. The findings
enabled this researcher to conceive two frameworks to explain, at the regional level, (i) the
process of KS and (ii) the propagation of KS. Thus the major contributions of this research are
that it provides new insights and methodology to existing KS literature as well as providing
frameworks that can be used by policy makers and implementers to enhance the innovation
capacity and capability of regions.
Original language | English |
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Publication status | Unpublished - 2019 |
Keywords
- Knowledge spillover, innovation, knowledge flows, regional innovation systems, geographical proximity, and innovation policy