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Interaction between different forms of proximity in inter‐organizational scientific collaboration: The case of medical sciences research network in the Yangtze River Delta region
Author(s) -
Cao Zhan,
Derudder Ben,
Peng Zhenwei
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
papers in regional science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.937
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1435-5957
pISSN - 1056-8190
DOI - 10.1111/pirs.12438
Subject(s) - complementarity (molecular biology) , yangtze river , delta , economic geography , regional science , cognition , geography , geographical distance , sociology , psychology , china , demography , population , genetics , archaeology , engineering , aerospace engineering , neuroscience , biology
The combined importance of geographical and non‐geographical proximity has been extensively examined, but the interactions between both—substitution/complementarity—are less well understood. This paper therefore explores the impact of, and interaction between different forms of proximity (geographical, institutional, social, cognitive and cultural/linguistic proximity) on knowledge collaboration in the medical sciences sector in the Yangtze River Delta. The results show that most dimensions of proximity have a positive impact on scientific collaboration. We find that institutional proximity can compensate for the lack of geographical proximity, which in turn reinforces social and cognitive proximity in facilitating inter‐organizational scientific collaboration.