Abstract:    Firms are the primary entities engaging in the technological factor market, serving as both technology buyers and sellers. Examining the entry mechanism of technological factor market can clarify its development trajectory, which has significant practical implications. This paper investigated how firms′ R&D collaboration affects the buying and selling of technology respectively by considering the trade-off between benefits and risks. Based on the framework, this paper examined the moderator effects of firms′ technological capability and knowledge overlap with partners. Using a sample of 1,707 autonomous driving firms, together with the panel data spanning from 2003 to 2017, this study reached the following new findings: first, firms′ R&D collaboration has an inverted U-shaped effect on technology buying, and has a positive effect on technology selling; second, when a firm has a high degree of knowledge overlap with its partners, the inverted U-shaped relationship between R&D collaboration and technology buying will become flattening, but knowledge overlap does not have a significant moderating effect on the relationship between firm′s R&D collaboration and technology selling; third, when a firm has superior technological capability, the inverted U-shaped relationship between R&D collaboration and technology buying will become steepening, while the positive effect of R&D collaboration on technology selling will be strengthen. This study will provide some practical implications for firms to enter technological factor market by depending on their R&D collaboration.

Key words:  R&D collaboration, entry into technological factor market, knowledge overlap, technological capability