Trust and technology transfers

Research and development is largely done by multinationals (MNEs) that transfer technology to their foreign subsidiaries. Trust might be an important determinant of the governance of technology transfers because trust can reduce the dependence of the subsidiary on the headquarters. We empirically in...

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Main Authors: García-Vega, María, Huergo, Elena
Format: Article
Published: Elsevier 2017
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Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44426/
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author García-Vega, María
Huergo, Elena
author_facet García-Vega, María
Huergo, Elena
author_sort García-Vega, María
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Research and development is largely done by multinationals (MNEs) that transfer technology to their foreign subsidiaries. Trust might be an important determinant of the governance of technology transfers because trust can reduce the dependence of the subsidiary on the headquarters. We empirically investigate how widely held perceptions of the trustworthiness of the host economy influence international technology transfers that subsidiaries receive from their business group or from other international providers. We use firm-level data on R&D imports from foreign subsidiaries operating in Spain for the period 2005 to 2012, and a Eurobarometer measure of trust between citizens of European countries. We find that subsidiaries that belong to MNEs from countries with higher trust in Spaniards have fewer technology transfers within the business group and more from international market channels than subsidiaries from countries with lower trust in Spaniards. Our results support predictions of transaction cost economics about how technology transfers are organized.
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spelling nottingham-444262020-05-04T19:14:37Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44426/ Trust and technology transfers García-Vega, María Huergo, Elena Research and development is largely done by multinationals (MNEs) that transfer technology to their foreign subsidiaries. Trust might be an important determinant of the governance of technology transfers because trust can reduce the dependence of the subsidiary on the headquarters. We empirically investigate how widely held perceptions of the trustworthiness of the host economy influence international technology transfers that subsidiaries receive from their business group or from other international providers. We use firm-level data on R&D imports from foreign subsidiaries operating in Spain for the period 2005 to 2012, and a Eurobarometer measure of trust between citizens of European countries. We find that subsidiaries that belong to MNEs from countries with higher trust in Spaniards have fewer technology transfers within the business group and more from international market channels than subsidiaries from countries with lower trust in Spaniards. Our results support predictions of transaction cost economics about how technology transfers are organized. Elsevier 2017-10-31 Article PeerReviewed García-Vega, María and Huergo, Elena (2017) Trust and technology transfers. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 142 . pp. 92-104. ISSN 0167-2681 Trustworthiness technology transfers R&D imports heterogeneous firms http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016726811730207X doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2017.07.029 doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2017.07.029
spellingShingle Trustworthiness
technology transfers
R&D imports
heterogeneous firms
García-Vega, María
Huergo, Elena
Trust and technology transfers
title Trust and technology transfers
title_full Trust and technology transfers
title_fullStr Trust and technology transfers
title_full_unstemmed Trust and technology transfers
title_short Trust and technology transfers
title_sort trust and technology transfers
topic Trustworthiness
technology transfers
R&D imports
heterogeneous firms
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44426/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44426/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44426/