Table 1 Research structure and hypotheses

Hypothesis 1

A1 + B1 < A3 + B3

H 1–1 Daegu 80s < 00s

(Cooke, 2005); (Nonaka, 1994); (Feldman and Braunerhjelm, 2006); (Yun, et al., 2015); (Breschi, et al., 2005); (Yun, et al., 2014)

A1 + B1 = Daegu 80s or Kwangju 80s

H 1–2 Kwangju 80s < 00s

A3 + B3 = Daegu 00s or Kwangju 00s

H 1–3 Gumi 80s < 00s

H 1–4 Cheonan 80s < 00s

Hypothesis 2

A + B > C + D

H 2–1 Daegu 00s > Gumi 00s

(Jaffe, et al., 1992); (Raspe and Van Oort, 2006); (Yun, et al., 2013); (Yun, et al., 2014)

A + B = Daegu or Kwangju

H 2–2 Daegu 00s > Cheonan 00s

C + D = Gumi or Cheonan

H 2–3 Kwangju 00s > Gumi 00s

H 2–4 Kwangju 00s > Cheonan 00s

Hypothesis 3

A1 < A3

H3-1 Daegu 10 % 80s < 00s

(Levy and Solomon, 1997); (Atkinson and Harrison, 1978); (Cooke and Leydesdorff, 2006; Foray and Lundvall, 1998); (Clauset, et al., 2009; Redner, 1998); (Yun, et al., 2014)

C1 < C3

H3-2 Kwangju 10 % 80s < 00s

A1 = Daegu 10 % 80s or Kwangju 10 % 80s

H3-3 Gumi 10 % 80s < 00s

A3 = Daegu 10 % 00s or Kwangju 10 % 00s

H3-4 Cheonan 10 % 80s < 00s

C1 = Gumi 10 % 80s or Cheonan 10 % 80s

C3 = Gumi 10 % 00s or Cheonan 10 % 00s

Hypothesis 4

B1 < B3

H4-1 Daegu 70 % 80s < 00s

(Brynjolfsson et al. 2011); (Simester, 2011); (Oestreicher-Singer & Sundararajan, 2010); (Enders et al. 2008)

D1 < D3

H4-2 Kwangju 70 % 80s < 00s

B1 = Daegu 70 % 80s or Kwangju 70 % 80s

H4-3 Gumi 70 % 80s < 00s

B3 = Daegu 70 % 00s or Kwangju 70 % 00s

H4-4 Cheonan 70 % 80s < 00s

(Elberse, 2008; Enders et al. 2008; Oestreicher-Singer & Sundararajan, 2010); Yun et al. 2014)

D1 = Gumi 70 % 80s or Cheonan 70 % 80s

D3 = Gumi 70 % 00s or Cheonan 70 % 00s