Purpose This paper aims to uncover the combinations of knowledge sharing mechanisms that organizations in a science and technology park in Brazil use to share managerial and technical knowledge. Design/methodology/approach This research adopts a qualitative approach that uses a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis to analyze data that are gathered from 51 managers of organizations in a science and technology park. Findings The results show that knowledge sharing happens regardless of the type of knowledge. There are more alternative paths that lead to knowledge sharing than to its absence. Regarding the type of knowledge shared, there are more alternative configurations that lead to managerial knowledge sharing than to technical knowledge sharing. Only the older organizations in the science and technology park abstain from knowledge sharing. Research limitations/implications Due to the qualitative nature of the study, no generalization is possible. Additionally, the study’s limitation is that it involves organizations from a single science and technology park. Practical implications The results offer managers of organizations in science and technology parks to choose from alternative combinations of mechanisms to either boost their knowledge sharing or to promote knowledge protection. Originality/value The paper provides an original contribution by identifying the combinations of mechanisms that organizations in a science and technology park use that leads to the sharing of specific knowledge types. The findings also identify the combination of mechanisms that older organizations use that prevents them from sharing knowledge.
A Science and Technology Park (STP) is an organization that aims to increase the wealth of its community and the culture of innovation and the competitiveness of its associated companies. Accordingly, the Park should stimulate the flow of knowledge between its companies, universities, and the market through the knowledge sharing. Knowledge sharing is a process in which individuals or organizations create knowledge collaboratively by exchanging their implicit or explicit knowledge. Thus, this research aimed to analyze the knowledge sharing between companies in an STP. To do so, qualitative research was carried out through semistructured interviews with 50 companies in an STP. The results show that companies share with other companies of all sizes from different business areas and tend to share with resident companies rather than with incubated ones. The type of knowledge shared between companies is more managerial than technical and can be shared using technology or not, and e-mail is the most used medium. The key benefits expected from sharing are networking, new business opportunities, and process improvement. The reasons for sharing are linked to the exploration and exploitation of knowledge, through which companies can create new processes for developing and refining their products and services.
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