The Role of Intergovernmental Organizations in Cross-border Knowledge Transfer and Innovation

Abstract

Nonmarket organizations play a supportive role in knowledge transfer and innovation domestically, but national differences between them can create barriers to cross-border knowledge transfer. Internationally oriented nonmarket organizations—ones that develop international ties and partnerships—may generate commonalities among participants and promote a set of similar rules, expectations, and norms across different countries and thus may be effective in supporting cross-border knowledge transfer and innovation. We focus on one such kind of organization, the intergovernmental organization (IGO), as a country’s connectedness to learning-oriented IGOs may have a positive influence on national innovation. Using an illustrative caselet on one IGO, the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum, and an empirical analysis spanning 83 countries from 1996 to 2006, we find that the extent of connectedness to the learning-oriented IGO network enables national innovation. But countries differ in the extent to which they can leverage external knowledge for innovation because of the variation in relationships among local constituencies.