TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER: THE ROLE OF CULTURE IN TRANSFERRING TECHNOLOGY

Abstract

The paper presents the results of an empirical investigation in to the relationships among cultural dimensions and the transfer of manufacturing technology. The framework of the study was developed to address these two dimensions of the study. For the cultural aspects, cultural dimensions introduced by Hofstede (1980) were used, namely, power distance, individualism – collectivism, masculinity-femininity, and uncertainty avoidance. For the technology transfer, embodiment forms of technology approach introduced and developed by Technology Atlas Team (1987), Shariff (1988), and Asian and Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology (1989) was used. The embodiment forms perspective views technology as comprising of four components, namely, object -embodied form, human-embodied form, document-embodied form and institution-embodied form. The study was conducted in a major local/foreign joint venture apparel manufacturing company that involved in transferring manufacturing technology to Sri Lanka. The data was collected through questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics and regression method. The results of the investigation revealed high transfer of the components of manufacturing technology. However, investigation did not reveal any significant linear relationship between any of the cultural dimensions and the transfer of manufacturing technology components. Therefore, though literature emphasis that the cultural factors could affect cross-cultural project work, it is not evident in our investigation.

Keywords: Apparel manufacturing industry, Embodiment forms of technology, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, Technology transfer

For full Paper: fmscresearch@sjp.ac.lk