Exploring the national role and position of international technology diffusion: A technological embeddedness perspective

The international diffusion of technology is one of the most important topics in economics and technology policy research. Countries participating in a global network demonstrate interdependence and mutually influence one another. Characteristics in network structure indicate the complexity of the overall network configuration. This study uses social network analysis to investigate the structural configuration of international technology diffusion. This research utilizes a collective behavioral analysis of social embeddedness to reveal a country´s role and position as factors in international technology diffusion. Role and position analysis categorize network actors based on behavioral performance in regards to technology mobility source, transmitter, and receiver processes. This analysis provides insights into the global technological embeddedness of countries, and also proposes a technological development perspective for global network embeddedness. The study results not only identify the competitive position of countries in the global network, but can also provide policy makers with a new perspective in exogenous technological growth.