Knowledge sharing in academic R&D collaborations: does culture matter?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate knowledge sharing of Chinese and German scientists collaborating in a cross‐cultural nanotechnology R&D project. Particularly, the authors analyze cultural differences that might indirectly influence the scientists' intention to share knowledge.Design/methodology/approach – Quantitative data were gathered from professors and PhDs working in academic Chinese‐German nanotechnology collaboration regarding influencing factors of their intention to share knowledge like subjective norms, anticipated extrinsic rewards and image. Moderated regression analysis was used to identify how nationality influences the relationships between independent variables and the intention to share knowledge.Findings – The findings show that the analyzed variables generally constitute important influencing factors of the intention to share knowledge. However, moderation analysis suggests that the proposed differences between the Eastern and Western cultures do not significantly ...

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