Impacts Of National Institutions On Trust-Outcome Relation In R&D Alliances

Abstract

Although it has been found that trust, in general, are beneficial to RD the effect surrounding national institutions (i.e. formal versus informal) have on the level of benefit observed has often been left unattended. In this paper, we examine how various national institutions; intellectual property protection and individualism in particular, impact interorganizational trust and its benefits to alliance performance. We propose that the positive effect of trust on alliance performance magnifies under weaker formal institutional contexts. Further we propose that national cultural values, particularly individualistic orientation; diminishes the level of trust observed in R&D alliances across countries.