Theoretical foundations of antecedents of internationalization and moderators in multinationality–performance relationship

Abstract

PurposeIn this paper, the authors undertake a systematic analysis of multinationality–performance (M-P) literature published in the last decade, when antecedents for internationalization and moderators of the M-P relationship had attained a center stage in international business and international management research. Though M-P relationship is one of the most widely studied topics within international business literature, so far synthesis of the entire theoretical landscape is missing in extant literature.Design/methodology/approachThrough keywords search process, the authors found 111 studies in management literature that look at internationalization, its antecedents, performance of internationalized firms, and moderators of the M-P relationship. The focus of this study is to identify theoretical foundations used to explain the antecedents and moderators in M-P relationship, in order to suggest the future research direction for the field. The authors classify the antecedents and moderators based on their theoretical underpinnings not only to identify commonly used theoretical foundations in the last 10 years of international strategy research but also to highlight potential areas for future research.FindingsThe authors’ analysis indicates that research on international strategy in the last decade was dominated by theory testing in the context of developed economies. The authors’ review suggests that majority of the antecedents and moderators in the M-P relationship are anchored within institutional theory, organizational structure, resource-based view, social capital, and upper echelon theory.Originality/valueThe authors’ findings are indicative of a rich research potential of M-P relationship in the contextual research setting of emerging markets while leveraging more diversified theoretical bases and multiple levels of research design.

Uluslararasılaşma Düzeyi ve Finansal Performans İlişkisi: BİST İşletmeleri Üzerine Bir Araştırma

“…The relationship between internationalization and performance has been widely studied in international strategy literature for almost 50 years (Hitt et al, 2006;Nguyen & Kim, 2020;Purkayastha et al, 2020). Both the initial studies and the following ones have provided inconsistent findings on the linear relationship or curvilinear relationships between internationalization and the performance level of firms in different contexts (Brewer, 1981;Grant, 1987;Lu & Beamish, 2004;Ruigrok & Wagner, 2003).…”

“…Relatedly, these findings generally were tested in advanced country contexts that have corporations with better tangible and intangible resources and capabilities. The research about how emerging country corporations perform after their internationalization attempts still needs to be investigated in different contexts (Purkayastha et al, 2020). Although internationalization provides advantages like economies of scale and decreased market imperfections in the product, factor, and financial markets (Buckley & Casson, 1976;Dunning, 1998;Ruigrok & Wagner, 2003), firms have to deal with increased transaction costs and liability of foreignness (Lu & Beamish, 2004;Williamson, 1979;Zaheer, 1995) due to operating in institutionally and culturally distant countries.…”

Product-service systems in Egypt: a multicase evaluation of field repair

“…Although market analysis is even more relevant for internationalization into emerging markets, few studies are focused on this topic (Caiazza, 2012, 2014, 2016), particularly in Africa (Oguji and Owusu, 2017). Through a systematic analysis of literature, Purkayastha et al (2020) found that research on internationalization in the last decade was dominated by theory testing in the context of developed economies. The authors highlighted a rich research potential in the context of emerging markets.…”

Internationalisation motives and the multinationality-performance relationship: The case of Polish firms

“…However, we must highlight that extant literature offers no extensive study on the role of motives as a contextual variable (Li, 2007;Nguyen, 2011;Ruigrok & Wagner, 2004;Verbeke & Brugman, 2009;Verbeke & Forootan, 2012). While a number of factors associated with the international organisational structure of firms is used as explanatory variables, an investigation of strategic moderating factors remains mostly absent (Purkayastha et al, 2020). Jain and Prakash (2016) find a negative moderation of the MP relationship for the predominance of labour-seeking motives as opposed to market-seeking motives among Indian software firms.…”

“…Despite a growing body of empirical research, the findings on the MP linkage remain inconsistent (Verbeke, Li, & Goerzen, 2009) and often described as contradictory or confusing (Nguyen & Kim, 2020). Some scholars attribute this situation to methodological limitations of extant research and call for a more in-depth exploration of contextual variables (Purkayastha, Sharma, & Karna, 2020;Tallman & Pedersen, 2012).…”