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ORIGINAL RESEARCH
External Environment, Social Exchange,
and International Research Collaboration:
A Study of China’s State Key Laboratories
1
School of Humanities and Laws, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin, 300409, China
2
School of Public Policy and Management, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
Submission date: 2024-04-22
Final revision date: 2024-05-13
Acceptance date: 2024-06-05
Online publication date: 2024-09-19
Publication date: 2025-05-09
Corresponding author
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2025;34(4):4409-4420
KEYWORDS
China’s State Key Laboratoriesinternational research collaborationexternal environmental factorssocial exchange factors
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
International research collaboration (IRC) is crucial to improving science and technology (S&T)
research capabilities. Existing literature has revealed that several factors influence IRC, but a complete
analytical framework has yet to be developed. This study attempts to fill this gap by building a framework
to analyze the IRC of China’s State Key Laboratories (SKLs). Based on the external environment
oriented toward resource dependence theory and social exchange theory, a questionnaire was designed
and deployed within SKLs. Ten hypotheses were established and tested using the structural equation
model (SEM) in Amos 23 software. The results showed that, among external environmental factors,
China’s S&T policy has facilitated the IRC of SKLs. In addition, international S&T decoupling with
China inhibited the IRC of SKLs. Finally, the results showed that COVID-19 did not exert a significant
negative influence. Among the social exchange factors, collaboration effects, collaboration reciprocity,
and collaboration ties exerted a positive influence on the IRC of SKLs. External environmental factors
also worked in tandem with social exchange factors.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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| eISSN: | 2083-5906 |
| ISSN: | 1230-1485 |
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