TY  - JOUR
AB  - Purpose Multinational enterprises (MNEs) encourage their subsidiaries to develop and transfer their unique knowledge and expertise back to the MNE as it is critical for the development of the MNE as a whole. However, what underlies the subsidiary ability to create such specialized knowledge that can be transferred to the MNE is less clear. The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of MNE entrepreneurial strategy, subsidiary initiatives and expatriation on reverse knowledge transfers in a cross-country comparative context.Design/methodology/approach Data are gathered through surveys from 429 foreign subsidiaries operating in New Zealand and 164 subsidiaries in Brazil, and these are analyzed using variance-based structural equation modeling.Findings Subsidiary initiatives partially mediate the relationship between MNE entrepreneurial strategy and reverse knowledge transfers in case of subsidiaries operating in Brazil, but they fully mediate in case of New Zealand. Furthermore, expatriation, in case of the latter, has a negative interaction in the relationship between subsidiary initiative and reverse knowledge transfers, but, in case of the former, it has no moderating role. Overall, the results suggest that the influence of MNE entrepreneurial strategy and expatriation on reverse knowledge transfers can be explained by contingencies such as the subsidiary host economy and the heterogenous HQ–subsidiary relationships.Originality/value The paper contributes to literature by identifying some contingencies with regard to the occurrence of reverse knowledge transfers. It addresses some research calls with regard to examining reverse knowledge transfers and the role of expatriation across different empirical contexts.
VL  - 23
IS  - 1
SN  - 1460-1060
DO  - 10.1108/EJIM-06-2018-0135
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/EJIM-06-2018-0135
AU  - Raziq Muhammad Mustafa
AU  - Rodrigues Cristina Doritta
AU  - Borini Felipe Mendes
AU  - Malik Omer Farooq
AU  - Saeed Abubakr
PY  - 2019
Y1  - 2019/01/01
TI  - Linking corporate entrepreneurship, expatriation and reverse knowledge transfers
T2  - European Journal of Innovation Management
PB  - Emerald Publishing Limited
SP  - 67
EP  - 89
Y2  - 2024/04/18
ER  -