The impact of social capital on the outcomes of innovation intermediation process

In today´s open business environments, innovation happens in globally dispersed organizations that exchange technological knowledge across increasingly permeable boundaries. Innovation intermediaries operate as middle-men between solution seekers (companies seeking technological knowledge for solving their problems) and problem solvers (experts with specialized knowledge and solutions); thus, they help to connect suppliers and customers of technological knowledge. To be successful, intermediaries need to understand the solution seeker´s problem and reach to their networks of contacts or connections with various experts to match the right expert to the right problem. The literature indicates that there are two different focuses in social capital, i.e., bridging (or broadening of the network) and bonding (or deepening of the relationship). In this study, a research model and hypotheses are developed to investigate the relationship between social capital and outcomes of intermediary process. The hypotheses are tested with the data from a government-sponsored intermediary organization in Thailand, called iTAP. The findings support the synergistic view of social capital which indicates that both bonding and bridging are necessary for the intermediation process to be successful.