The Development and Application of Transaction Cost Economics in Taiwan

This study collected 89 papers related to transaction cost theory published between 1992 and 2013 from 19 journals in the Taiwan Social Sciences Citation Index database, and used bibliometrics and network analysis to examine the theory’s applications and development. The results show that the theory has mostly been applied in studies on technology management, transaction information, stocks/foreign exchange/investment, business transfers, strategies, opportunistic behaviors, performance, theoretical integration, human resources, relations, knowledge management, and consumer behaviors. Of these topics, strategies had the most samples; followed by stocks/foreign exchange/investment, which accounted for 19.10% of the total; followed by relations, with 17.98%; and technology management, with 11.24%. The greatest numbers of publications were observed in 1997 and 2007. Connections between the authors appeared to be weak and cross-referencing was rare. Apparently, more time is required for the formation of a research community with strong coherence and knowledge integration capabilities.