The transformation of national patents for high-technology exports: Moderating effects of national cultures

Tariq H. Malik, Tao Xiang () and Chunhui Huo

International Business Review, 2021, vol. 30, issue 1

Abstract: National culture as an informal institution influences the national absorptive capacity (NAC) measured in patents per capita in the upstream and entrepreneurial activity in the downstream. Does national culture moderate the link between NAC and high-technology exports? We explored this question in a comprehensive study design. Based on a panel of 101 countries over 21 years, first, we assessed the direct effect of NAC on high-technology exports in the baseline hypothesis. Then, we analysed the moderating role of national culture between the country’s NAC and high-technology exports. The results show several insights from the comparison between the literature and our evidence. (i) We proposed that power distance negatively moderates patent and high-tech exports; the results show a positive correlation of the interaction. (ii) We proposed that individualist culture positively moderates patent and high-technology exports; the results show a positive correlation of the interaction. (iii) We proposed that high masculinity has no moderating effects; the results show a positive interaction effect. (iv) We proposed that uncertainty avoidance negatively moderates the link between NAC and high-technology exports; the results show negative and significant moderation without the introduction of long-term orientation; however, it is non-significant after the introduction of long-term orientation. Last, (v) we proposed that long-term orientation positively moderates the link between NAC and high-technology exports; the results are positive and significant without uncertainty avoidance, and they are non-significant with uncertainty avoidance in the analysis. Uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation neutralise each other’s effects. Based on these insights, we contribute to the literature in three ways. First, we address the issue of high-technology exports in international business at the national level and link it to the vertical transformation of national science in patents per capita. Second, we contribute to the institutional theory encompassing informal norms (culture) and formal rules (policy) in the flow of NAC to commercial performance. Third, we make several policy-related suggestions.

Keywords: National absorptive capacity; Patents per capita; High-technology exports; Moderating effects of national cultures; Vertical technology transfer; Institutional theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.ibusrev.2020.101771

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