Abstract: Whether and how outward foreign direct investment impacts technological catch-up of latecomer firms has become an essential issue in the fields of both enterprises’ internationalization and technological catch-up. On the basis of mutlinational company theory and catch-up theory, this paper presents a moderated mediating model to explore how outforward foreign direct investment, r&d intensity and institutional quality exert influence on technologically catch-up of latecomer firms. Using the provincial panel data from 2003 to 2013 to test the hypotheses, the empirical results show that outwar foreign direct investment has a positive impact on technological catch-up of latecomer firms, and this impact is realized through the mediating role of r&d intensity. Moreover, the outwar foreign direct investment’s postive effects on technological catch-up of latecomer firms and mediating effects of r&d intensity are both strengthened with the enhancement of institutional quality.

摘要： 对外直接投资与后发企业技术追赶之间的作用机制是企业国际化及后发企业追赶领域的前沿问题。本文以跨国公司理论和后发企业追赶理论为基础，通过构建一个被调节的中介效应模型，对对外直接投资、研发强度和制度质量影响后发企业技术追赶绩效的机制进行研究。本文选取2003-2013年中国30个省份的面板数据对理论假设进行检验，研究发现，对外直接投资通过研发强度对后发企业技术追赶绩效产生积极影响，制度质量越高，对外直接投资对后发企业技术追赶绩效的提升作用更为明显，且对研发强度的正向影响更为显著。