Leveraging channel management capability for knowledge transfer in international joint ventures in an emerging market: A moderated mediation model

Abstract A central issue faced by an international joint venture (IJV) is how to manage and exploit knowledge learned from its foreign parents (i.e., knowledge transfer) for better IJV performance. Drawing from the resource –based view and the dynamic capabilities perspective, this study proposes a moderated mediation model in which channel management capability of an IJV helps transform the potential benefits of knowledge transfer into performance, and such indirect effect is augmented by absorptive capacity of an IJV and market dynamism it faces. Using a sample of 136 China-based IJVs, findings revealed that the mediation effect of channel management capability is particularly salient and becomes stronger when an IJV faces a more dynamic market environment or when the IJV has a relatively higher absorptive capacity. But the indirect effect becomes negative when the IJV has low absorptive capacity.