Determinants of Knowledge Acquisition in Korean International Joint Ventures: A Pre- and Post-Asia Crisis Comparison

We identify the key determinants of knowledge acquisition in a sample of South Korean IJVs. The Korean economic and business environment has changed dramatically since the 1997 Asia crisis. Given the dramatic environmental changes, a key question is whether the main determinants of knowledge acquisition in IJVs have changed accordingly. We address this issue by examining IJVs that were formed before the crisis, and those that were formed afterwards. Regression models indicate that the three most powerful explanatory variables for knowledge acquisition, both pre- and post-crisis, are the participation of foreign expatriates, willingness to share foreign techniques, and the level of trust between the foreign and local partners. However, several differences are also found in the determinants of knowledge acquisition depending on whether the IJV was formed before or after the Asia crisis. A key general point of significance is that the relative importance of the determinants of knowledge acquisition in IJVs is conditional on the context in which they are examined.