Technical gazette, Vol. 33 No. 6, 2026.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.17559/TV-20251106003112
Beyond Location: Antecedents, Intensity, and Outcomes of Symbiotic Partnerships between Science Parks and Tenant Firms
Zhen Shen
; The University of Hong Kong
Nikola Zivlak
; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovica 6, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
Danijela Ciric Lalic
; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovica 6, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
Hailan Guo
; Antai College of Economics & Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
*
Yanting Chen
; Cornell University, USA
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
This study examines how perceived resource accessibility, network intensity, and supportive management jointly foster symbiotic partnerships between science parks and tenant firms, and how partnership quality, in turn, enhances tenant innovation and willingness to pay rent premiums. Drawing on the resource-based view, social capital and organisational support theory, we test an integrated model with survey data from 248 tenants in Shanghai Zizhu Science Park. Partial least squares and covariance-based structural equation modelling with bootstrap inference provide convergent evidence on path directions, magnitudes, and indirect effects. All hypothesised relationships are positive and significant. Supportive management is the strongest antecedent of partnership quality, while resource accessibility and network intensity contribute meaningfully. Partnership quality partially mediates the links to innovation and to rent premiums, indicating that relational governance amplifies rather than replaces direct influences. The findings move the debate beyond location advantages by identifying partnership quality as the central transmission mechanism from park inputs to technological and financial outcomes. The study adds relevance by introducing willingness to pay rent premiums as a concrete economic outcome and by offering a practical diagnostic for knowledge orchestration in science and technology parks.
Keywords
resource-based view; science and technology parks; social capital; symbiotic partnership
Hrčak ID:
353093
URI
Publication date:
7.11.2026.
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