Too much of a good thing? Network brokerage within and between regions and innovation performance

The paper offers a multilevel understanding of the effect of brokerage on regional innovation. We develop a typology of regional networks based on the extent to which the inventors of a region connect the otherwise disconnected group of local inventors (internal brokerage) or connect the local network with other regions (external boundary-spanning). Using data on regional innovation performance and co-inventing networks within and between US metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) between 2000 and 2014, we show that configurations balancing high (low) internal brokerage and low (high) external boundary-spanning lead to higher innovation performance than those where brokerage occurs at both levels of analysis.

Automated summary

This paper offers a multilevel understanding of the impact of brokerage on regional innovation, proposing a typology of regional networks based on the extent of connections among inventors within a region and with inventors in other regions. The study shows that configurations balancing high internal brokerage and low external boundary-spanning lead to higher innovation performance.