Although prior research has emphasized the importance of international strategic alliances, we have incomplete understanding of how and why some firms succeed in acquiring knowledge from foreign partners, but others fail. We advance understanding of this important issue by examining (1) two key antecedents of knowledge ambiguity (the perceived difficulty of understanding the causal effects of partner’s knowledge and the use of such knowledge) and (2) by identifying how firms can partly overcome the negative effects of knowledge ambiguity on knowledge acquisition in international alliances. Drawing on organizational learning theory, our analysis not only shows (and explains how) knowledge ambiguity affects international knowledge acquisition through the interaction with absorptive capacity, but also identifies what alliance partners can do to reduce knowledge ambiguity and overcome some of its negative consequences, such as choosing foreign partners with a similar institutional context and building strong relationships with such partners.

中文翻译：

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国际战略联盟中的知识获取：知识歧义的作用

尽管先前的研究强调了国际战略联盟的重要性，但我们对某些公司如何以及为什么成功地从外国合作伙伴那里获取知识，而另一些却失败的理解还不完整。我们通过研究（1）知识歧义的两个关键前提（认识到理解合伙人知识的因果关系和使用此类知识的难度）和（2）识别企业如何部分克服负面影响来增进对这一重要问题的理解。知识歧义对国际联盟中知识获取的影响。利用组织学习理论，我们的分析不仅显示（并解释）知识歧义如何通过吸收能力的相互作用影响国际知识的获取，