Technology partnerships depend heavily on intangible assets transfers such as information and different types of knowledge. Exchange and trade of intangible assets are even more sensitive to opportunist behaviour than exchange of tangible assets such as machinery or raw materials due to the information paradox. Hence, guidelines that may help to better deal with opportunist behaviour are of utmost importance for cross-border knowledge and information exchange. Relevant literature and case study evidence suggest that cultural factors are of primary importance for successful technology partnerships. Stemming from that, this paper investigates possible implications of cultural values variations across different countries for opportunism. The authors argue that countries with greater proneness to opportunism in society may incur in higher transaction costs in interfirm relationships. Thus, the main contribution of this paper is the analysis of some cultural elements which might influence interfirm knowledge exchange relationships. Transaction costs are considered in relation to cultural values at a country level.
Drawing on a literature review on transaction costs and society’s cultural values, the authors aimed at making conceptual connections between both. Next, indices were built to measure proneness to opportunism and trust levels in some institutions in 27 countries all over the globe. Indices were built based upon variables from a sample with approximately 45,000 cases taken from an international survey on cultural and political values. The paper contributes to future research on the implications of institutional settings and of cultural differences for interfirm knowledge exchange.