Research on Effectiveness of Technology Transfer from a Knowledge Based Perspective

Many SMEs in newly industrialized countries with limited technological infrastructure and R&D resources can still compete successfully at the international level. Those SMEs typically depend on technologies that are transferred from foreign partners of developed Western countries. Even though the topic of technology transfer has long been studied, the main stream studies focus on the hardware aspects, the soft - knowledge- facet of technology transfer is still a matter of concern. This study bridges a gap in the extant literature by examining interrelationships between knowledge sharing and the effectiveness of technology transfer from developed countries to SMEs in developing countries. In studying the data from 33 Turkish SMEs, and using the partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), we find that explicit knowledge sharing forms the fundament of technology transfer. Also the findings address a significant deficiency regarding tacit knowledge sharing.