Research On The Impact Mechanism Of Standards Cooperation On The Technological Progress Of Countries Along The B&R From The Perspective Of Absorptive Capacity

In view of the important role of standards in technological progress,the cooperation between China and countries along the “Belt and Road” has gradually expanded to the field of standards.It is the common expectation of China and countries along the “Belt and Road” to achieve technological progress through standards cooperation.It remains to be tested whether standards cooperation really has an effect of technological progress,and why and how standards cooperation will have an impact on technological progress of countries along the “Belt and Road” has not yet been clarified.In order to study the impact mechanism of standards cooperation on the technological progress of countries along the “Belt and Road”,the thesis further considers absorptive capacity of countries along the “Belt and Road” on the basis of analyzing the relationship between standards cooperation and technological progress of countries along the “Belt and Road”,and studies the mediating role of absorptive capacity in the technological progress of countries along the “Belt and Road”,which not only enriches relevant theoretical research on factors affecting technological progress,standards cooperation,and absorptive capacity,but also provides targeted suggestions on how to better promote technological progress in countries along the “Belt and Road” through standards cooperation.Based on the theory of absorptive capacity,the thesis theoretically analyzes the mechanism of how standards cooperation can promote technological progress of countries along the “Belt and Road”.First of all,it is clear that the premise of the positive technological progress of standards is that standard is obtained by the transformation of advanced technology,and standards cooperation needs to be implemented for the reasons of knowledge sharing,resource complementation,and solving technical problems.Then,the theory of absorptive capacity was introduced,and divide standards cooperation into two dimensions.One is the joint formulation of standard.The joint formulation of standard strengthens the acquisition,absorption and application of external knowledge through multiple activities among countries,and enhances their absorptive capacity,thereby improving their own knowledge stock and personnel technical level,and achieving technological progress.The second is to promote the implementation of advanced standards.Countries along the “Belt and Road” will strengthen the acquisition and understanding of advanced standards knowledge through standards demonstrations,and improve the ability to apply standards knowledge through obtaining technical guidance.While improving the technical level of the labor force in the countries along the “Belt and Road”,the standards will be implemented and accelerated.Technological innovation and diffusion of advanced technologies,thereby enabling technological progress.Based on the above influence mechanism analysis,the research hypothesis and theoretical model of this thesis are further proposed.In order to verify the correctness of the above mechanism,the thesis selects panel data from 2004 to 2018 in 35 countries along the “Belt and Road” for empirical testing.The empirical research shows that:(1)Standards cooperation between China and countries along the “Belt and Road” is helpful to the technological progress of countries along the “Belt and Road”,and the robustness of the above conclusions is proved by changing the depreciation rate of capital stock,reducing the impact of outliers,and increasing the missing variables,etc.The result of the endogenous test shows that standards cooperation has a certain time lag on the promotion of technological progress in countries along the “Belt and Road”;(2)Standards cooperation helps to improve the potential and realized absorptive capacity of countries along the “Belt and Road”,and the above-mentioned absorptive capacity has a positive impact on their technological progress.Therefore,the potential absorptive capacity and the realized absorptive capacity of countries along the “Belt and Road” play a partial mediating role in the standards cooperation to promote the technological progress of countries along the “Belt and Road”,and the mediating role of the realized absorptive capacity is more significant.Based on the above results,the following three suggestions are finally put forward:(1)Deepen the standards cooperation between China and countries along the “Belt and Road”;(2)Expand knowledge acquisition channels and promote countries along the “Belt and Road” to increase their potential absorptive capacity;(3)Strengthen the level of knowledge application and promote the improvement of the realized absorptive capacity of countries along the “Belt and Road”.