Which forms of R&D internationalisation behaviours promote firm's innovation performance? An empirical study from the China International Industry Fair 2016–2018

Chinese enterprises are increasingly operating R&D internationalisation to promote their innovation performance in forms of cross-border R&D collaboration, setting up offshoring R&D centres and transnational merger and acquisition (M&A), but the existing literature has not yet discussed this topic thoroughly regarding the effect of various forms of R&D internationalisation behaviour. Based on 738 Chinese enterprises examined using a questionnaire survey at the China International Industry Fair (CIIF) 2016–2018, this study analyses the impacts of different R&D internationalisation behaviour on firms’ innovation performance and the moderating effect of a firm's absorptive capacity and international experience on the relationship. The empirical results reveal (1) that three different forms of R&D internationalisation behaviour all contribute to enhancing a firm's innovation performance, (2) that Chinese enterprises can capture their innovation performance by operating multiple R&D internationalisation behaviour forms simultaneously, and (3) that a firm's absorptive capacity only exerts a positive moderating effect on the relationship between the cross-border R&D collaboration and the firm's innovation performance, which implies to some extent that operating R&D internationalisation in the form of cross-border R&D collaboration for Chinese firms demands higher absorptive capacity in comparison to setting up offshoring R&D institutions and transnational merger and acquisition (M&A).