Intellectual property rights, non-market considerations and foreign R&D investments

•The logic underlying foreign R&D investment location choice differs from that for general FDI.•Non-market factors at both country and firm-level influence the extent to which firms are deterred by host country IPR weakness.•A host country's inclination towards a firm's home country reduces the deterring effect of IPR weakness on that firm's foreign R&D investment location choice.•A firm's political capabilities reduce the deterring effect of IPR weakness on that firm's foreign R&D investment location choice.•Country IPR weakness restricts inward R&D investments to a subset of firms, possibly distorting the availability of technologies in the country.