Article Knowledge sharing among companies in a science and technology park Mario Oscar Steffen Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Brazil Mı ´rian Oliveira Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Brazil Andrea R Balle Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Brazil Abstract A Science and Technology Park (STP) is an organization that aims to increase the wealth of its community and the culture of innovation and the competitiveness of its associated companies. Accordingly, the Park should stimulate the flow of knowledge between its companies, universities, and the market through the knowledge sharing. Knowledge sharing is a process in which individuals or organizations create knowledge collaboratively by exchanging their implicit or explicit knowledge. Thus, this research aimed to analyze the knowledge sharing between companies in an STP. To do so, qua- litative research was carried out through semistructured interviews with 50 companies in an STP. The results show that companies share with other companies of all sizes from different business areas and tend to share with resident companies rather than with incubated ones. The type of knowledge shared between companies is more managerial than technical and can be shared using technology or not, and e-mail is the most used medium. The key benefits expected from sharing are networking, new business opportunities, and process improvement. The reasons for sharing are linked to the exploration and exploitation of knowledge, through which companies can create new processes for developing and refining their products and services. Keywords Incubators, knowledge exploration, knowledge exploitation, knowledge sharing, science parks Introduction Companies of different sizes and acting in different sectors coexist in Science and Technology Parks (STPs). Accord- ing to the International Association of Science and Innova- tion Parks (UNESCO, 2016), an STP is defined as ‘An organization managed by specialized professionals, whose main aim is to increase the wealth of its community, pro- moting the culture of innovation and of competitiveness of its associated companies and knowledge-based institu- tions’. STPs stimulate the flow of knowledge between com- panies and between them and universities. Among the benefits obtained by companies installed in STPs, we can mention the visibility their situation offers them. The phys- ical proximity between companies can also facilitate knowledge sharing (KS) between, which may result in increased innovation in their products and services. KS is defined as ‘the process by which individuals mutually exchange their (implicit and explicit) knowledge and jointly create new knowledge’ (Hooff and Ridder, 2004, p. 118). The antecedents for intraorganizational KS have been studied by several authors (Li et al., 2015). Although there is much research on the antecedents of intraorganizational and intraorganizational sharing (White- rspoon et al., 2013), research is still needed to better under- stand the antecedents of interorganizational KS (IKS). Social Exchange Theory (SET) can be used to explain KS behavior and its antecedents (Gang and Ravichandran, 2015) by understanding social behavior as an exchange, that is, the parties involved share their knowledge in the expectation of obtaining future benefits (Lin, 2014). The physical proximity of companies can facilitate the sharing of interorganizational knowledge, but it cannot be Corresponding author: Mario Oscar Steffen. Email: mariooscarsteffen@gmail.com Business Information Review 2017, Vol. 34(2) 101–108 ª The Author(s) 2017 Reprints and permission: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0266382117711331 journals.sagepub.com/home/bir