Technology transfer and team boundary‐spanning activities and their antecedents: do the classic measures apply to China?

The recent shift in the classic paradigm of technology transfer demands new and more adequate tools of investigation. In the last few decades, the world has experienced a unique mutation in innovation flow. If yesterday technologies traveled from west to east and from north to south, nowadays, leapfrogging economies are playing a pivotal role in changing this dynamic. The paper conducts an explorative inductive study to investigate the peculiarities of technology transfer and team boundary-spanning activities and their antecedents in China. Moreover, the paper, through surveys and interviews explores how technology transfer classical measurements apply to Chinese respondents. The focus of the present research on boundary-spanning activities carried out by teams in the technology industry is due to the rising interest from scholars and members of the Chinese technology industry. Interest has increased in light of the impressive efforts made by the Chinese government and institutions to push Chinese domestic inventions globally. Finally, while considering the limitations presented by a case study, the paper offers several insights for further analysis and discusses the theoretical and managerial implications of its findings.