This study explores factors influencing the extent of engagement of international faculty in developing local research capacity. Drawing on ideas from research on knowledge sharing and on "intellectual commons," we found that while the faculty share explicit knowledge in publications and tacit knowledge by providing apprenticeship opportunities for their students, they remain disengaged from building capacity of local academics. We argue that the main reasons for this disengagement is ambiguity in interpretation of the social contract, ineffective reward structures, and the lack of tenure contracts.