Trust, Knowledge Sharing and Innovation: A Cross-cultural Perspective on Sino-German Collaboration

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Martin Högl
• Subject Area: Accounting and Finance
• Term: from 2011 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 211966383

This project is proposed in face of the relevance of Sino-German business collaboration. German investments in China are profound and still increasing, while Chinese firms have started to enter the German market. Our general aim is to provide scientific guidance for how to foster interpersonal collaboration and thus high-level performance and innovation in Sino-German alliances. In doing so, the Chinese research team in this project focuses on Sino-German knowledge sharing and the German team examines the trust/distrust mechanisms in Sino-German alliances. We posit that effective knowledge sharing based on interpersonal trust will lead to increased performance and innovation in the process of Sino-German collaboration. Knowledge sharing studies led by the Chinese team will start with an examination of the cultural antecedents of knowledge sharing. Following a dual social exchange and economic exchange framework, this series of studies is composed of 1) literature review with special focus on Chinese and German studies, 2) a cross-cultural study comparing Chinese and German motivation mechanisms of knowledge sharing, and 3) an inter-cultural study underpinning knowledge sharing within Sino-German collaborative teams. There will be empirical studies in forms of in-depth interviews and surveys conducted in China and Germany. Trust/distrust studies led by the German team will first analyze cultural differences in the German and Chinese concept of trust and of distrust (arguing that these are distinct concepts), relying on a qualitative approach. Comparing the concepts, we will point to etic and to emic aspects of trust and distrust. Furthermore, we will conduct a crosscultural study to empirically validate trust and distrust measures, to identify antecedents of trust and distrust as well as moderating conditions. In the third step, we will conduct an inter-cultural study to analyze how dissimilarities in the trust/ distrust concept influence knowledge sharing in Sino-Germans teams. In this collaborative project, the Chinese team and the German team jointly work to explore drivers of higher level performance and innovation in Sino-German alliances. With different but related research focuses, this project is expected to bring about synergy effects. 1）Complementary theory building. Each side will provide the other partner findings from the local research arena, which is an indispensable element of any cross-cultural study. 2) The two teams located in China and German make it possible to collect data for the cross-cultural approaches. 3) Trust, knowledge sharing and innovation are theoretically related constructs. Part of the outcomes of this project will be a joint research model integrating research interests from both the Chinese and German teams. Altogether this Sino-German collaborative project will generate contributions in the fields of trust, knowledge sharing, innovation and cross-cultural study.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: China
• Participating Person: Professorin Dr. Lin Lu