An empirical analysis of individual and collective determinants of international research collaboration

Abstract

International research collaboration is a crucial determinant of scientific productivity, but it remains an underdeveloped task for governments, universities and research systems. Despite important economic and institutional efforts to promote collaborations, not all researchers establish successful international connections during their academic careers. This lack of international contacts hinders knowledge transfer from a broader perspective, limiting, in a way, the advancement of science. This paper analyses these factors—individual and collective—affecting research collaboration in the international context through a hierarchical multiple regression analysis of a sample of 954 Spanish academic researchers. We found that collective factors such as research team social capital—including structural and cognitive dimensions—and team orientation toward research and team productivity clearly affect international collaboration levels. Furthermore, contrary to our expectations, researchers’ human capital and motivation, and the principal investigator’s knowledge-oriented leadership, exerted only a very weak effect, which also is discussed in the paper’s final section.