The Impact Of Two Types Contract And Trust On Knowledge Transfer In University-institute-industry Collaboration

Since the21st century, the model of global economic growth has been shifted fromtraditional material-driven to knowledge-driven. As the most important strategic resource ofan organization, valuable and scarce knowledge is the source of strength for an enterprise toestablish and maintain a competitive advantage. From national development practice,university-industry cooperation is a critical path in gaining access to valuable externalknowledge and fostering technological capabilities. Despite China has made considerabledevelopment in university-industry cooperation in the recent years, it contributesinconsiderably to enhancing enterprises’ technical capacity, for the knowledge of universitiesand research institutions failed to be transferred to enterprises effectively and thentransformed enterprises’ innovative capability. The factors that hinder knowledge transferinside university-industry cooperation include not only internal factors, such as motivationand absorptive capacity, but also external risk factors of cooperation, such as collaborativeperformance risk and risk of opportunistic behavior. Enterprise inherent learning willingnessand absorbing ability is subject to market competition, intellectual property environment,policies and laws, and many other factors, whose improvement is a relatively complex andslow. As a way to take effect in the short term, it’s advisable to improve governancemechanisms of the university-industry cooperation, reduce cooperation risk and promoteknowledge transfer based on the organization’s existing motivation and absorbing capacity.Inter-organizational cooperation governance mechanisms includes formal governancemechanisms(typically formal contracts), as well as informal governancemechanisms(typically trust). Further, contracts are divided into contract coordination andcontract control, different types of contracts have different target and functionality, and alsohave different roles of knowledge transfer. Studying types of contracts, the relationship oftrust and knowledge transfer is vital for improving the efficiency of knowledge transferbetween enterprises and research institutions and enhancing enterprises’ independentinnovation capability.This paper comprehensively and systematically analyzes and summarizes relevantliterature about university-industry cooperation, formal contract, trust and knowledge transfer.Based on that, the paper has explored contract coordination, contract control and trust’s directimpact on explicit knowledge transfer and tacit knowledge transfer through exploratoryanalysis of multiple scenarios, analyzed the regulatory effect of the learning willingness and absorbing ability, furthermore, it has studied the interactive effect between two types ofcontract and interaction between trust and the two types of knowledge transfer. On the basisof the previous theoretical model, the paper conducts the variables measurement on relevantfactors, and collects the sample data in several provinces in the country, obtaining213validquestionnaires. Questionnaire analysis reveals that all measurements have good reliability andvalidity, and meets the research requirements. Except for two unsupported assumptions, alltheoretical assumptions pass statistical tests. The results show that:(1)the effects of two typesof formal contract mechanisms on the two types of knowledge transfer are not exactly thesame. Contract coordination can promote explicit knowledge transfer in university-industrycooperation, but has no effect on the tacit knowledge transfer. Contract control helps to speedup the transfer of explicit knowledge, but hinders the transfer of tacit knowledge.(2) Trustproduces a significant positive impact on the transfer of explicit knowledge and tacitknowledge, and the impact on the latter is more than that on the the former.(3) Enterprises’learning willingness and absorbing ability plays basically significant regulatory role ontypes of contracts, relationship between trust and the knowledge transfer.(4) Combination ofcontract coordination and trust increases explicit knowledge transfer and tacit knowledgetransfer, while combination of contract control and trust reduces both types of knowledgetransfer.The paper further explores and analyzes on the basis of existing theoretical perspectives,proposes some new angles and perspectives, complements and improves the existing researchand theories. The main research contributions are summarized as follows:(1) From contractgovernance perspective, thoroughly investigates the impact of the two types of formalcontract mechanisms on two types of knowledge transfer, proposes different contractual effectmechanisms of explicit knowledge transfer and tacit knowledge transfer, and enriches theunion governance theory and knowledge management theory.(2) Analyzes the differentinfluences of the two types of contracts and trust on the two types of knowledge transfer andimproves related theoretical framework.（3）Demonstrates that the two types of contractmechanism and trust have different interactions on knowledge transfer, provides a reasonableexplanation for the existing controversy whether the relationships between contract and trustis "complementary" or "alternative", and enriches relationship governance theory andknowledge management theory.(4) Discusses the regulatory role of enterprises’s learningwillingness and absorbing ability on types of contracts and the relationship of trust andknowledge transfer, and improves the existing theoretical models.