The Impact of Governance Mechanisms on Interfirm Learning and Relationship Performance

Over the past two decades, the formation of international and interfirm collaborations has increased substantially, especially for the high-tech firms. It is argued that collaborations provide a platform for organizational learning, giving partner firms access to each other’s knowledge. However, empirical validations on the relationships among governance mechanisms, interfirm learning and relationship performance are limited. Thus, the primary purpose of this study is to go one step further and empirically verify the inter-relationships among governance mechanisms, interfirm learning and relationship performance. This study selected firms of High-Tech Industry in Taiwan for our sample, including industries from information technology, optoelectronics technology, biotechnology, micro-electronics and IC technology to conduct a survey. And totally 153 valid and complete questionnaires were used for the quantitative analysis. The empirical data concluded that an appropriate selection of collaborative governance mechanisms will be essential to achieve better interfirm learning, which in turn contributes to the explanation of relationship performance.