International Management Literature Research Articles

Export manager profile in small and medium-sized enterprises: a gender issue?

ObjetivoExplorar la existencia de perfiles de gestor de exportaciones diferenciados en función del género. El estudio pretende responder a dos preguntas de investigación: (1) ¿difiere el perfil de los gestores de exportación en función del género? En caso afirmativo, (2) ¿en qué atributos directivos/rasgos se observa la diferencia y cuál es la relación entre ellos?Diseño/metodologíaAnálisis empírico cuantitativo sobre una muestra de gestores de exportación de pequeñas y medianas empresas (PYMEs) españolas.ResultadosNuestros resultados apuntan a la existencia de perfiles de gestor de exportación diferenciados por género en términos de atributos objetivos, rasgos personales, estilos de gestión y percepciones relativas a prácticas discriminatorias y estereotipos perjudiciales. Existen dos efectos sustitución en función del género: (1) experiencia profesional versus educación formal y (2) orientación empresarial versus uso de redes relacionales.OriginalidadEl género es una cuestión escasamente estudiada en la literatura sobre gestión internacional a pesar de su relevancia en el contexto institucional internacional. Este artículo aborda el aspecto del género en la gestión de exportaciones.LimitacionesNuestros datos son limitados en términos de ámbito geográfico y tamaño de las empresas; por tanto, no son generalizables sin la realización de nuevos estudios.Implicaciones prácticasNuestras conclusiones pueden ayudar a comprender la relevancia de los equipos de exportación que integran a directivos de diferente género y se benefician de la combinación de diversos atributos directivos, rasgos personales y procesos relacionales en su crecimiento internacional.

Host-country climate risk and the expansion of emerging market firms: a strategic tripod application

ABSTRACT Climate risk is a pressing global concern that affects multinational enterprises in manifold ways. Yet this has received less attention in international management literature. To address the gap, this study examines the impact of climate risk on the expansion and performance of emerging multinational enterprises (EMNEs) and tests the moderating effects of industry and institutional factors on the relationships. Using a dataset comprising the international acquisitions initiated by MNEs from emerging markets in 1998–2018, we find that host-country climate risk negatively affects the firms’ expansionary entries and is detrimental to firm performance. In addition, we find that firms from high-polluting industries are likely to show greater environmental awareness and increase their commitment to climate-risk countries. At the country level, our results show that home-host country political ties reduce the negative impact of climate risk on firms’ expansion and performance. The findings contribute to the literature on environmental management in an international business context and offer important practical implications for managers and government agencies.

Is “regional culture” a meaningful concept? Cultural differences across 60 Russian regions

PurposeThere is an increasing interest in the international management literature in cultural differences between in-country regions. Yet, the regions of any country may be merely political products and not necessarily cultural units. The goal of this article is to propose clear empirical criteria for deciding if a set of entities, such as a country's administrative regions, can be legitimate units of cross-cultural analysis and to test these criteria in an empirical study.Design/methodology/approachThe authors review the literature on what constitutes a unit of cross-cultural analysis and propose empirical criteria. For instance, the regions of a given country are meaningful units of cross-cultural analysis if one can replicate (an) established dimension(s) of culture at the regional level, including some of the dimension(s)' antecedents and predictive properties. The authors apply this test in the context of the Russian Federation (RF), using an RF database (18,768 respondents from 60 administrative regions) with items borrowed from the World Values Survey.FindingsThe RF regions pass the authors’ test. At the regional level, the selected items yield an individualism-collectivism (IDV-COLL) dimension that is similar to its nation-level counterpart in the revised Minkov-Hofstede model in terms of concept and antecedents (wealth differences and geographic latitude) and outcomes that are relevant in business (innovation rates and quality of governance). The authors also find other patterns that confirm the properties of RF regions as meaningful units of cultural analysis.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors’ criteria and the test based on them are suitable for large countries, with significant geo-climatic variety and ethnic diversity, but may be inapplicable in small countries with less diversity. It is questionable if the latter countries contain enough cultural variation to justify a cross-cultural analysis of their sub-national regions.Practical implicationsThe authors’ criteria can be used in future research in any large country to decide if its regions justify a cross-cultural analysis in the field of management and business or any other field.Social implicationsCultural differences within a country are important as they may inform political and management decisions. Yet, to demonstrate that those differences are real, and not imaginary, one needs a methodology like the authors’.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the discussion of the meaningfulness of in-country regions as cultural units for cross-cultural analysis in international business by focusing on the RF.

Women's representation in top management teams of emerging markets' multinationals in developed countries: A legitimacy perspective

AbstractNumerous studies have documented the existence of legitimacy challenges that emerging markets multinational enterprises (EMNEs) face in foreign markets due to their national origin. However, there is limited understanding of the EMNEs' strategic responses to offset these country‐of‐origin related disadvantages. In this study, we conceptualize gender diversity management (GDM) as a strategic response of EMNEs to mitigate the legitimacy challenges in developed countries. Specifically, we argue that emerging markets firms increase women's representation in top management teams to overcome the liability of origin. We use legitimacy perspective to examine the effect of pervasiveness of institutional voids in emerging markets on women's representation in top management teams of EMNEs. Based on subsidiary‐level panel data of EMNEs from 20 emerging markets operating in developed countries from 2010 to 2019, our results show strong and robust evidence indicating that the pervasiveness of institutional voids at home is positively related to women's representation in top management teams of emerging markets firms. Additional analyses demonstrate that duration in the foreign market, market‐seeking intent, and state ownership further magnify this effect. These findings, besides significantly adding to the international human resource management literature, have managerial implications.

Enhancing international marketing capability and export performance of emerging market SMEs in crises: strategic flexibility and digital technologies

PurposeThis study investigates to what extent strategic flexibility of international strategic alliances (ISAs) affects export performance of emerging market small and medium-sized enterprises (ESMEs) via international marketing capability in crises. It also examines whether these ESMEs’ adoption of digital technology strengthens the impact of strategic flexibility of ISAs on international marketing capability.Design/methodology/approachBased on the international alliance and dynamic capability perspectives on strategic flexibility, the authors develop a conceptual model and empirically examine the mediation and moderation effects between strategic flexibility of ISAs, international marketing capability, export performance and adoption of digital technology. The authors collected survey data from 129 ESMEs located in Pakistan between May 2021 and August 2021 and tested the conceptual model with hierarchical-moderated regression analysis.FindingsThe findings suggest that strategic flexibility of ISAs positively impacts on export performance of ESMEs in crises. Moreover, the authors found that international marketing significantly mediates the relationship between strategic flexibility of ISAs and export performance of ESMEs. Also, the adoption of digital technologies significantly moderates the relationship between strategic flexibility of ISAs positively and international marketing capability.Originality/valueThe authors take strategic flexibility of ISAs in the context of the emerging market and how ESMEs enhance export performance in a time of crisis, which extends the prior ESMEs’ international marketing strategy and crisis management literature. In particular, the authors show that strategic flexibility of ISAs is a vital dynamic capability to enhance export performance of ESMEs via international marketing capability and adoption of digital technologies.

The impact of coping self-efficacy and sociocultural adjustment on skill development of expatriates in Taiwan

ABSTRACT From an expatriate’s viewpoint, an international job assignment is a high-pressure situation that requires them to adjust as expeditiously as possible. Therefore, a considerable strand of the international human resource management (IHRM) literature is dedicated to the subject of expatriate adjustment. Drawing upon Folkman and Lazarus’ coping framework and Bandura’s self-efficacy theory, the present study examines the influence of expatriates’ coping self-efficacy and sociocultural adjustment on their skill development process. Based on the hypotheses, mediating effects of sociocultural adjustment on coping self-efficacy and skill development were also studied. Using questionnaire survey method, data was collected from 161 expatriates currently working in Taiwan. The results highlighted the key role that coping self-efficacy plays in the sociocultural adjustment of expatriates, such that, the individuals with a higher level of coping self-efficacy were found to experience higher levels of sociocultural adjustment. The results further show that this interrelationship also facilitated skill development through the mediating effects of sociocultural adjustment. This study contributes to expatriate literature by showcasing the underlying impact of different factors on skill development and provide insights for skill-building to human resource (HR) managers and expatriates working in Taiwan. Lastly, the author also presents implications, limitations, and future research directions.

Emerging business transnationalism in Singapore and China: governance, networks, and strategies

ABSTRACT Against the backdrop of a rising China and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, there has been increasing interest in the governance models and strategies of ethnic Chinese businesses. Taking this growing literature a step further and seeking to transcend dominant paradigms of businesses and entrepreneurship derived mostly from the Western experiences, this article critically re-evaluates the role of ethnicity and culture in the governance models, behaviour, and networks of transnational Chinese businesses based in Singapore, with operations in Southeast Asia and China. We argue that while ethnicity and culture remain as a significant factor in shaping transnational Chinese business, Chinese companies in Southeast Asia have adopted new corporate governing models and strategies in their engagement with China markets at the time of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This article adds nuance to the international business and management literature by arguing that the corporate governance, management, and strategies of Chinese companies should not be perceived via a binary perspective, either converging towards or diverging from Western models of businesses and relying solely on ethnicity and culture.

Conceptualization and Mapping of Predictors of Technological Entrepreneurship Growth in a Changing Economic Environment (COVID-19) from the Polish Energy Sector

This study seeks to address the issue of the development factors influencing technological entrepreneurship capabilities of enterprises during the COVID-19 epidemic crisis. This research is particularly relevant in light of the leading role given to innovation and science-oriented technology companies in the economic and epidemiological crisis. This study aims to analyze the impact of the changing environment on the predictors of technological entrepreneurship, assess their impact by the management practice and establish a causal relationship between the used variables. The paper draws on foreign literature review, covering fundamental theoretical fields in international management literature, to develop an integrated research framework. Based on a differentiated approach, the collaborative framework emphasizes a range of network processes and attributes, their interactions and moderating managerial relationships related to their impact on companies’ technological entrepreneurship capabilities and their contribution to business outcomes. The study was conducted by means of four-wave research. The factors of models included in the correlation analysis are management functions and demand for new technology. Results show that there is a weak positive relationship between management functions and manager’s technological preferences. These findings show that during COVID-19, firms changed their management practices using digitalization to respond to the pandemic. Additionally, it shows that managers moved towards employing new technologies as a strategic response to the crisis. The results showed a mutual, two-way relationship between the demand for new technology and managers from the planning area, high level scientifically and managers with managerial functions, a quick diffusion of technological innovations and managers with the motivating function, a short lifecycle of products and processes and managers from the short lifecycle of products and processes. Taking into consideration that technology entrepreneurship and innovation are facets of the innovative entrepreneur sector, the need for a holistic approach is needed to support their development during the international economic crisis. The next practical implication derived from the crisis may hinder the ability of entrepreneurs to discover new opportunities for technology development. Moreover, an epidemic shock such as COVID-19 may have an impact on technology entrepreneurial opportunities. This article presents a new look at the theory of management by using the implementation role of predictors of the growth of technological entrepreneurship during the epidemic crisis. In addition, the article obviously contributes to the technology entrepreneurship literature by providing an empirical study that advances a new perspective on the process of developing new technologies in the period of crisis.

International business, multinational enterprises and nationality of the company: a constructive review of literature

In the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis, the long-held confidence that ‘nationality’ would not matter in a globalised economy has dwindled. As the impact of economic and foreign policy on firms’ internationalisation and investment decisions appears to grow, and economic nationalism built on constructs of ‘nationality of the company’ gains weight, companies doing business abroad, including multinational enterprises operating in the US and Europe, are increasingly exposed to (often unexpected) implications of their ‘nationality’. We elaborate on related perspectives to the theme developed in the IB, global strategy, and international management literature and in business history. Based on these readings, we conceptualise the opaque notion of ‘nationality of the company’ and outline perspectives. We argue that ‘nationality’ appears in very different ways and suggest that research should focus more on specific political and institutional environments, and specific constructs of ‘nationality’.

The changing contours of global value chains post-COVID: Evidence from the Commonwealth

The COVID-19 pandemic emphasised the global value chains (GVCs) debate by focussing on whether gains from GVC participation outweigh firms associated risks of demand and supply shocks amid rising protectionism. This paper bridges the gap between the international trade and management literature by examining the impact of COVID-19 on Commonwealth countries, an area that has received scant attention in academic literature. Using the Eora database, we simulate scenarios to examine Commonwealth countries’ participation in GVCs post-COVID. We draw on the transaction cost economics (TCE) theory to develop a framework that investigates whether growing protectionism, associated with reshoring, decoupling and nearshoring, could potentially affect the constellation and participation of Commonwealth countries in GVCs post-COVID. Results show that trade protectionism is likely to impact the supply chains and lead to GVC reconfiguration, which could offer opportunities for the Commonwealth countries and firms to potentially gain following the geographical redistribution of suppliers.

How to Improve Marketing Capability and Export Performance of Emerging Market SMEs in Crises?

This paper examines how and to what extent strategic flexibility of international strategic partnerships (ISPs) affects export performance of emerging market small and medium-sized enterprises (EMSMEs) via international marketing capability in crises. Also, it investigates whether these EMSMEs’ adoption of digital technology strengthens the impact of strategic flexibility of ISPs on international marketing capability. We developed a conceptual model based on the international partnership and dynamic capability perspectives on strategic flexibility. The study empirically examines the mediation and moderation effects between strategic flexibility of ISPs, international marketing capability, export performance, and adoption of digital technology. We test the model using 129 Pakistani EMSMEs with hierarchical regression analyses. The findings suggest that strategic flexibility of ISPs positively impacts on export performance of EMSMEs in crises. Moreover, we found that international marketing significantly mediates the relationship between strategic flexibility of ISPs and export performance of EMSMEs. Also, the adoption of digital technologies significantly moderates the association between strategic flexibility of ISPs positively and international marketing capability. We take strategic flexibility of ISPs in the context of the emerging market and how EMSMEs enhance export performance in a time of crisis, which extends the prior EMSMEs international marketing strategy and crisis management literature. The result demonstrates that strategic flexibility of ISPs is a vital dynamic capability to enhance export performance of EMSMEs via international marketing capability and adoption of digital technologies.

Japanese self‐initiated expatriates' adjustment to Indian assignments: the role of traditional values

The purpose of the study was to enhance understanding of how self‐initiated expatriates (SIE) adjust to new cultural contexts in the under‐explored Indo‐Japanese inter‐Asian context. A literature review identified that Asian focal case studies are under‐developed, especially regarding the important interactions between major advanced Asian economy and emerging Asian economy settings. Therefore, the study developed an illustrative case of advanced economy Japanese SIE managers’ lived experience in Indian emerging economy cross‐cultural management situations. Deploying a social constructivist epistemology using interpretive analysis, the current study found clear evidence of an interplay of hitherto under‐recognized common Indo‐Japanese spiritual values with roots in Buddhism surfacing in the Japanese SIE's adjustment. The paper offers important insights to complement extant theory on the individual‐level factors influencing SIE adjustment in an inter‐Asian context. The study contributes to international human resource management literature by surfacing contextualized understanding of the role of traditional spiritual values in SIE adjustment.

Fostering assigned expatriates’ innovativeness via culturally intelligent supervisors: a resource gain perspective

Assigned expatriates play a role in the innovations of multinational companies (MNCs). Yet, we still know little about how MNCs can help their expatriates towards being more innovative. In this study, we draw on conservation of resources theory to propose that perceived host country national (HCN) supervisor cultural intelligence (CQ), as a contextual resource, positively influences expatriates’ innovativeness via two personal resource pathways. Specifically, we suggest that expatriates’ work engagement and subsidiary socialization, as corresponding personal energy and personal knowledge pathways, positively mediate between perceived HCN supervisor CQ and expatriate innovativeness. We further hypothesize that expatriate cultural metacognition, as a key resource, helps expatriates utilize contextual resources more effectively to generate personal resources to innovate, and thus, it positively moderates the two mediation pathways. We use time-lagged data collected from assigned expatriates to test our hypotheses. We discuss our theoretical and practical contributions to the international human resource management literature.

How I Speak Defines What I Do: Effects of the Functional Language Proficiency of Host Country Employees on Their Unethical Pro-organizational Behavior.

Functional language has been used in many multinational corporations (MNCs) as a way to overcome the problems caused by the coexistence of multiple languages in the workplace. The existing literature has explored the importance, adoption, and effectiveness of functional language. Yet, how functional language shapes host country employees’ moral cognition and behavior is insufficiently researched. Guided by the Social Identity Theory, this manuscript shows that host country employees’ functional language proficiency (i.e., English) enhances their unethical pro-organizational behavior through their linguistic group identification and moral disengagement. We tested our predictions using the data collected from 309 full-time host country employees through an online survey, and the results generally supported our hypotheses. The findings make contributions to both international management and language literature and organizational moral behavior literature.

An emic-etic-emic research cycle for understanding context in under-researched countries

Given the importance of understanding the context of management issues in the world, this article discusses the role of both emic (developing culture-specific concepts) and etic (applying concepts across cultures) research in the international management literature. This paper proposes a more comprehensive mixed methods research cycle that can provide researchers with a deeper understanding of the context in under-researched countries. Using a decolonial lens, this theoretical paper proposes that an emic-etic-emic cycle is the best way to disaggregate contextual issues in organizational research, particularly when dealing with human issues in management. By examining a research project on leadership in Africa and the African diaspora from decolonial perspective, our proposed emic-etic-emic cycle (1) stresses the importance of using an emic approach in addition to the dominant etic approach in cross-cultural management; (2) provides researchers with a deeper understanding of context in under-researched countries; and (3) contributes to decolonial approaches to management, which call for a symmetrical dialogue across borders which decentralizes the dominant Western approach, and provides a deeper understanding of management from an indigenous and local perspective. Contextualizing research using the emic-etic-emic cycle can enhance rigor and relevance of the research.

Scientific mapping in Scopus with Biblioshiny: A bibliometric analysis of organizational tensions

This study aims to carry out a bibliometric mapping of the scientific production built around organizational tensions, one of the central subjects of the international management literature. With the help of the Biblioshiny software (RStudio), a bibliometric analysis of the publications indexed in Scopus during the last 20 years was performed. The main results indicate an expected growth of academic production in the last five years. There is a predominance of qualitative and theoretical research, covering almost all analyzed studies. In addition, the work presents the most influential authors, countries, journals, and articles, highlighting motor and fundamental themes, trend topics, gaps, and research opportunities in the investigated field.

International projects and political risk management by multinational enterprises: insights from multiple emerging markets

PurposeThis study investigates an under-researched yet fundamental question of how a developed country multinational enterprises (DMNE) perceives and manages political risks when undertaking infrastructure projects in the emerging markets (EMs).Design/methodology/approachThe authors use an abduction-based qualitative research approach to analyze six international project operations of a multinational enterprise originating from Finland in five EMs.FindingsThe findings suggest that the overall nature of political risks in EMs is not the same, except few political risk factors that are visible in most EMs. Consequently, the applied risk management mechanisms vary between EMs, except with few common mechanisms. The authors develop an integrative analytical framework of political risk management based on the findings.Originality/valueThis paper is one of the first studies to identify political risk factors for western MNEs while undertaking international project operations and link them to reduction mechanisms used by them. The authors go beyond the notion of risk being conceptualized at a general level and evaluate 20 specific political risk factors referred to in extant literature. The authors further link these political risk factors with both social exchange and transaction cost theories conceptually as well as empirically. Finally, the authors develop a relatively comprehensive analytical framework of political risk management based on the case projects' findings that combine several strands of literature, including the social exchange theory, transaction cost theory, international market entry, project management and finance literature streams.

You are always one of us: The role of implicit theories of ethnicity in host country nationals’ view of co‐ethnic expatriates

Ethnic similarity often generates positive interactions between host‐country nationals (HCNs) and co‐ethnic expatriates in multinational corporations (MNCs), but the potential causes of conflict between these groups are under‐studied. In two studies, we tested whether Chinese HCNs’ attitudes towards expatriates are associated with the implicit theories of ethnicity held by HCNs—essentialism (i.e., believing ethnicity has an immutable essence) versus constructivism (i.e., believing ethnicity to be malleable/socially constructed)—as well as expatriates’ ethnicity, which we operationalised as Chinese (co‐ethnic) versus Scottish (other‐ethnic), and expatriates’ cultural upbringing, operationalised as Chinese (local) versus American (foreign). In Study 1, HCNs who endorsed an essentialist perspective of ethnicity expected co‐ethnic (vs. other‐ethnic) expatriates to demonstrate greater ingroup identification and favouritism towards them irrespective of the expatriates’ cultural upbringing. In Study 2, HCNs primed with the essentialist view expected co‐ethnic (vs. other‐ethnic) expatriates to demonstrate greater ingroup identification and favouritism towards them irrespective of the expatriates’ upbringing, whereas those primed with the constructivist view expected expatriates with local (vs. foreign) upbringing to demonstrate greater ingroup identification and favouritism towards them irrespective of their ethnicity. These findings advance international management literature by providing a nuanced understanding of the interactions between HCNs and co‐ethnic expatriates that are influenced by essentialist beliefs about ethnicity.

Becoming competent expatriate managers: Embracing paradoxes in international management

This conceptual paper bridges international management literature with paradox theory to contribute to a paradoxical perspective for understanding expatriate competence. Synthesizing the international management literature, we argue for a ‘both/and’ approach for expatriates to effectively engage with tensions in a dynamic and ever-changing international environment. Our discussions provide novel insights on salient paradoxical tensions across three areas, namely, expatriate learning, expatriate identity, and expatriate performance. We develop strategies to address those tensions and a theoretical model that delineates the interactions of these three areas for superior performance on international assignments. We contribute to the international management literature by drawing attention to the dynamic and enabling role of paradoxical tensions as facilitators of, rather than barriers to, the development of expatriate competence and superior performance on international assignments.

Host country language proficiency and identity: Spanish self-initiated expatriate nurses in Germany

PurposeDespite over 50 years of expatriation research, the implications of expatriation for identity remains an under-researched topic in mainstream international human resource management (IHRM) literature. Expatriation can cause disruption to expatriates' familiar sociocultural environment, which can often pose challenges to their self-concept and identity. The study underpinned by identity and social identity theories explores the perceptions of Spanish self-initiated expatriate (SIE) nurses living in Germany and other Spanish nurses who repatriated from Germany to understand the influence of expatriation on their self-concept and identity.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews were conducted with Spanish SIE nurses in Germany (n = 20) and others who had repatriated from Germany (n = 10). Data analysis was assisted by NVivo software.FindingsThe study identified that low proficiency in the host country language (HCL) and the problematic workplace interactions that ensued, challenged the participants' self-conceptions as competent professionals and prompted their reliance on social networks of fellow Spaniards for social validation.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough focused on a specific context, the study not only enhances practical understanding of Spanish SIE nurses in Germany but also offers valuable insights to organisations working with SIEs. It adds to extant knowledge on language and identity in the expatriation context and discusses the implications for global HRM related to underutilisation of SIEs' knowledge and skills within organisations.Originality/valueThe study contributes to theory building on the under-researched link between expatriation and identity, while adding to the growing literature on SIEs.