Beyond the water cooler: using socialization to understand use and impact of networking services on collaboration in a business incubator
研究商业孵化器中租户的入驻时长如何影响其使用正式内部网络服务及与其他租户的合作水平，发现社交化程度低时租户更依赖正式服务，社交化高时入驻时长直接促进合作，两者互补并推动销售增长。
Scholars and policymakers claim that Business Incubators (BIs) add value by facilitating internal cooperation between tenant firms. Taking a tenant perspective, this research investigates the impact of a tenant's length of BI tenure on the use of formal internal networking services the BI management provides, and then on the tenant's level of intra‐BI cooperation. The premise is that BI tenants use and benefit more from formal internal networking services when their socialization through participation in BI informal networking activities is low. When socialization is high they will enjoy a stronger direct effect of tenant tenure on cooperation with other tenants. Findings from data collected from a Dutch BI confirm the premise of our moderated‐mediation model. Results also show that both mechanisms complement each other and that each contributes significantly to tenants' sales growth. It lends support to the effectiveness of BI formal internal networking services, but also stresses the importance of socialization through informal networking activities.