Our study examines how the location (geographic and organizational distance) of the
direct interpersonal exchange relationships a university researcher establishes and
main tains affects his or her knowledge creation. In order to create new knowledge,
researchers seek to combine and exchange information and know-how with others and
must often go outside the boundaries of their universities to obtain the needed
resources. We explore the impact of working with others, both within and outside the
organization, on new knowledge creation. We argue for a curvilinear effect between
distance and knowledge creation, in that spatially close and distant exchange
partner locations will have a greater effect on knowledge creation than intermediate
distances. Hypotheses, tested on a large sample of university biomedical research
scientists, are largely supported.
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