Social Capital Of University Faculties, Corporate Absorptive Capacity, and Performance of University-Industry (UI) Joint R&D Project in Korea

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Considering issues of cultural gap and transferring tacit knowledge, this paper examines impact of university faculty’s social capital and corporate absorptive capacity on performance of UI joint R&D project. Method/Statistical Analysis: Based on a survey of 338 UI joint projects in Korea, this paper tested reliability and validity of measurements by exploratory factor analysis and tested hypothesis by adopting regression analysis. Findings: The research result of this paper suggests that faculty’s social capital measured by reputation, mutual trust, and brokerage networks, has a significant impact on the project performance. Regarding the internal dimension of corporate absorptive capacity, this paper shows that firms’ technological experts and capabilities have a positive impact on the project performance. Application/Improvement: Upon selecting academic partners for joint R&D, firms should understand the significance of academic faculty’s social capital for networking and consider the corporate internal capacity to effectively internalize academic knowledge.