The interplay of cognitive and relational social capital dimensions in university-industry collaboration: Overcoming the experience barrier
通过15个创新项目的纵向案例研究，发现经验丰富的企业依赖认知社会资本建立合作，而经验不足的企业则先依赖关系社会资本，两种资本随时间相互强化。
The use of university-industry collaboration in the innovation process is viewed as a major driver of firm competitiveness. The organizational dynamics underlying successful external relationships, however, remain poorly understood. Using longitudinal case studies of 15 innovation projects, we examine how firms with varying degrees of experience in collaborating with universities and public research organizations rely on different social capital dimensions to achieve successful collaborations. We find that experienced firms establish external collaborations on the basis of cognitive social capital, but this basis is reinforced by relational social capital over time. Conversely, less experienced firms initially base their university collaborations on relational social capital, which is reinforced by cognitive social capital over time. Based on these findings, we theorize on the interplay of different dimensions of social capital in university-industry collaborations over time. Our study has important implications for the management of collaborative innovation projects. In particular, it provides guidance to enable less experienced firms to develop successful collaborations with university partners.