Release time:2025-11-04  Hits:

• Impact Factor:5.5
• DOI number:10.1016/j.strueco.2025.02.010
• Journal:Structural Change and Economic Dynamics
• Key Words:cross-border R&D; foreign direct investment; network structure; absorptive capacity; innovation performance
• Abstract:In the process of innovation, the importance of utilizing external knowledge by countries has gradually been recognized. Against the backdrop of economic globalization, accessing and absorbing external knowledge through cross-border R&D has become a significant means for both countries and enterprises to enhance innovation performance. Within the increasingly frequent global network structure formed by cross-border R&D investments, national innovation performance is jointly influenced by external network relations and absorptive capacity. Combining network theory and absorptive capacity theory, this paper portrays the global cross-border R&D investment network structure, empirically examines the relationship between network position, absorptive capacity, and innovation performance using panel data consisting of 16060 cross-border R&D investment projects spanning from 2003 to 2020. The results indicate that global cross-border R&D investments have formed a complete topological network structure characterized by a core-periphery feature, indicating heterogeneous distribution of countries' positions in the network. Countries in different positions exhibit varying impacts of cross-border R&D on innovation performance. Countries with higher node strength and richer structural holes tend to have higher innovation output. Additionally, absorptive capacity plays a positive moderating role between network position and innovation performance, although this role varies heterogeneously between developed and developing countries. This research serves as a valuable theoretical resource for guiding the design of cross-border R&D and innovation policies.
• Note:扬州大学人文社会科学二级权威期刊
• First Author:Li Tingzhu
• Indexed by:Research Atricle
• Correspondence Author:Du Debin
• Discipline:Economics
• First-Level Discipline:Applied Economics
• Document Type:Journal
• Volume:73
• Page Number:460-471
• ISSN No.:0954-349X
• Translation or Not:no
• Date of Publication:2025-03-05
• Included Journals:SSCI