Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine firms’ knowledge-sourcing behavior in green technology development with respect to the home country’s market- vs nonmarket environmental policy stringency. Design/methodology/approach This paper empirically analyzes the effects of market and nonmarket environmental policy stringency on firms’ knowledge sourcing activity with patent data from OECD countries during 1991–2010, across five categories of green technologies. Findings When a nation establishes more stringent market environmental policies, firms likely source more international knowledge rather than domestic knowledge about green technology, up to a point. After that level, this balance shifts (inverted U-shaped curve) due to the risks associated with greater investment costs and commerciality. Nonmarket environmental policies instead should exhibit a positive, linear relationship with international relative to domestic knowledge sourcing. This study also reveals the dynamic roles of a firm’s green technological capability with market-based environmental policy stringency and a substitutive role of the capability with nonmarket-based environmental policy stringency. Research limitations/implications This study shows the effect of market and nonmarket environmental policy stringency on firms’ knowledge sourcing. The findings provide meaningful implications for policymakers regarding the optimal levels of market and nonmarket environmental policy stringency that will enhance their countries’ green technology development. Originality/value This paper enriches the literature of environmental policy and knowledge sourcing and offers the direction of future research of how environmental policy stringency influences a firm’s knowledge sourcing for green technology development.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the role of firms’ internationalization on the relationship between intellectual property right (IPR) protection and their technological innovation. While recent studies provide a negative relationship between IPR protection and technological innovation, this paper argues that firm’s internationalization weaken the negative relationship. This research is a meaningful step to clarify the theoretical conflict and empirical ambiguity of the effect of IPR protection on technological innovations. Design/methodology/approach This paper empirically analyzes the theoretical arguments with 204 US firms, which registered their patents in the United States Patent and Trademark Office and have been listed in the Compustat database between 2007 and 2010. Findings The paper suggests that IPR protections brings more benefit to firms with high multinationality and are more export-oriented in terms of developing technological innovation, whereas the effects of international knowledge stock is unclear in the relationship between IPR protection and technological innovation. Research limitations/implications This study shows the effects of internationalization factors, which provide the benefits of cost efficiency and of more resource accessibility on the relationship between IPR protection regime and a firm’s technological innovation. The implication for policy makers and firm managers is that utilizing internationalization resources and capabilities is essential in developing their firms’ technological innovation under a strong IPR protection. Originality/value This paper enriches the literature of IPRs and offers the direction for future research on how a firm’s internationalization matters in its innovative activities under IPR protection.

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