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The purpose of this paper is to investigate knowledge sharing of Chinese and German scientists collaborating in a cross‐cultural nanotechnology R&D project. Particularly, the authors analyze cultural differences that might indirectly influence the scientists' intention to share knowledge.

Quantitative data were gathered from professors and PhDs working in academic Chinese‐German nanotechnology collaboration regarding influencing factors of their intention to share knowledge like subjective norms, anticipated extrinsic rewards and image. Moderated regression analysis was used to identify how nationality influences the relationships between independent variables and the intention to share knowledge.

The findings show that the analyzed variables generally constitute important influencing factors of the intention to share knowledge. However, moderation analysis suggests that the proposed differences between the Eastern and Western cultures do not significantly affect influencing factors of the intention to share knowledge.

The focus of this study is on an academic environment, limiting the generalizability of the results. It promises to be a worthwhile endeavor to investigate possible influencing factors and effects of organizational culture in cross‐cultural collaboration projects more thoroughly in the future, further deepening our understanding of knowledge sharing in collaborative R&D projects.

Cultural differences between Chinese and German researchers might have diminished over the past decades. Both in China and Germany, academic scientists can be expected to largely share the same values, beliefs, assumptions and expectations with regard to their work.

The study at hand is the first analysis of an academic Chinese‐German nanotechnology collaboration.

In search for new ideas outside the firm's boundaries most companies choose to implement cooperation in the form of discrete projects, increasing the importance of project management. As research in this area so far mainly dealt with formalized instruments of process control, the purpose of this paper is to focus on personal aspects, particularly on the role of project leadership.

A sample of 84 biotechnological projects were analyzed. A standardized questionnaire was developed and sent out to research and development managers from the chemical, pharmaceutical and biotechnological industry. The level of analysis for the survey were single cooperative projects and basically regression statistics were employed.

It was found that the requirement for a stronger project leader is highly dependent on the degree of trust among team members and the administrative activity. In contrast, other factors, like the risk associated with a cooperative project, or the extent of upper management support are not significantly related to a stronger leader.

As only biotechnological projects were analyzed, other studies investigating the required project leadership style in other industries would be necessary to be able to generalize. Furthermore, there are several factors with a potential influence that could not be examined in this study.

The findings would suggest to companies involved in cooperative projects that more emphasis should be put on the human factors of project management and not only on efficient instruments.

This paper focuses on the required strength of a project leader and should thus be of interest to managers trying to set up effective cooperative projects.