It is not because it is offered that it is used: An investigation into firm-level determinants of use intensity of buffering services in science parks

Science parks are a type of organizational sponsorship initiative aimed at generating resource-munificent environments through the provision of bridging and buffering services. While extant research has studied the relationship between these services and firm outcomes, it has neglected to provide insights into when tenant firms utilize these services to a greater or lesser extent. Our study evaluates science parks' buffering mechanism and identifies firm-level characteristics affecting tenants' use intensity of buffering services. To do so, we build upon survey data collected from 201 tenant firms located in science parks in three European countries. Taking a resource dependence perspective, our findings indicate that tenants' managerial resources (particularly top management team size and functional experience) and boundary-spanning capacity jointly determine the extent to which firms rely upon the science park's buffering mechanism. This study contributes to the organizational sponsorship, resource dependence, and science park literatures, as well as has important practical implications.