New IE Articles — March 2021

Journal of World Business – Volume 56(3), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2020.101164

Social Media Firm Specific Advantages as Enablers of Network Embeddedness of International Entrepreneurial Ventures

Sara Fraccastoro, Mika Gabrielsson, Sylvie Chetty

Combining internalisation theory and internationalisation networking literature we study how international entrepreneurial ventures use social media to internationalise. Our qualitative study reveals the governance mechanisms and learning that are part of a dynamic process. We explain how firms leverage their own social-media capabilities and bundle them with the capabilities of foreign partners, which they leverage to create new social-media capabilities to grow internationally. Firms leverage social-media capabilities to become embedded within emerging and strategic networks, a position that is central for firms to mitigate threats of opportunism and bounded reliability and to overcome liabilities connected to smallness, newness, and foreignness.

Journal of World Business—DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2021.101207

Emerging market internationalizing firms: Learning through internationalization to achieve entrepreneurial orientation

Anish Purkayastha, Vikas Kumar, Vishal K.Gupta

Internationalizing firms export, raise foreign equity, and acquire foreign assets. Based on motivations and processes of emerging market internationalizing firms (EMIFs) and drawing on the organizational learning theory, we propose that EMIFs increase their entrepreneurial orientation through internationalization. We argue that a configuration of learning from exports, cross-listing, and international M&A improves entrepreneurial orientation in EMIFs. Longitudinal (nine-year period) data drawn from 809 Indian firms supports our hypotheses.

Journal of International Entrepreneurship – DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10843-021-00292-w

International entrepreneurship research agendas evolving: A longitudinal study using the Delphi method.

Etemad, H., Gurau, C. & Dana, L.P.

The heterogeneity of research topics in international entrepreneurship (IE) makes the identification of a convergent research agenda difficult. Addressing this, we replicate a 2008 Delphi study, analyzing research directions considered relevant by recognized experts of IE, and also comparing the two sets of data, in an attempt to map the evolution of IE research. This is a first attempt to collect and analyze IE longitudinal data using the Delphi method. Findings provide a basis for developing a future research agenda, facilitating collaboration among researchers. This study can facilitate the understanding and enacting of IE activities for academics, entrepreneurs, and policy-makers.

International Small Business Journal—DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0266242620960456 

How do resilience and self-efficacy relate to entrepreneurial intentions in countries with varying degrees of fragility? A six-country study

Maija Renko, Amanda Bullough, Saadat Saeed

Conflict, poverty and weak institutions create hardships for people, societies and economies on a global basis. We investigate macro-societal state fragility and stability. Within this context, and from a microfoundations perspective, we analyse individual-level constructs and particularly, the importance of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and individual resilience in forming the intent to start a business. With primary data from Afghanistan, Iraq, Peru, Tajikistan, the United States and Finland, we find that under stable conditions, a belief in one’s entrepreneurial ability – entrepreneurial self-efficacy – is critical. Conversely, under adverse conditions, as evident in fragile states, the ability to grow from adversity – individual resilience – is the more meaningful resource.

International Small Business Journal—DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0266242620958898

The role of digital presence and investment network signals on the internationalisation of small firms

Endrit Kromidha, Paul JA Robson

This article proposes a network signalling theory approach to analyse small firm internationalisation in the digital economy. We use a data set of 4446 small- and medium-sized firms extracted from Funderbeam and logit regression models to test five hypotheses about internationalisation. Exploring a firm’s digital presence indicates that the number of social media followers is a better indicator of internationalisation than website traffic, highlighting the importance of engagement signals in the digital space. Investment signals such as the time and size of funding are also positively related to internationalisation but surprisingly, not the number of investors, suggesting that more focused investment strategies work better in the international context. To complement our international network signalling approach, controlling for firm factors such as age and size and environmental factors such as competition and industry provides a more detailed analysis. Our contribution lies in extending signalling theory in the context of international networks using a novel and extensive data set.