Journal of World Business最新文献

This study examines the impact of soft and hard infrastructure deficiencies on foreign firms’ investments in emerging markets and firm strategies to mitigate such impact. Soft infrastructure refers to intangible components such as institutions and regulations, while hard infrastructure encompasses tangible physical components like transportation, energy systems, and water supply. Drawing on resource dependence theory, we argue that foreign firms are likely to decrease their investment scale in countries with deficient soft and hard infrastructures to reduce uncertainty. We further propose two strategies to mitigate the negative effects of infrastructure deficiencies. First, foreign firms can adopt an influencing strategy, increasing their influence on the host government to alleviate the negative impact of soft infrastructure deficiencies. Second, a shielding strategy can be employed to reduce dependence on the host government, particularly when dealing with hard infrastructure deficiencies. We analyze data from a sample of 3,341 foreign firms operating in 88 emerging economies between 2005 and 2020 and find empirical support for these arguments, highlighting the significance of infrastructural considerations for foreign investments in emerging economies.

Traditional perspectives on interstate cooperation stress its benefits in facilitating foreign direct investment (FDI) by reducing uncertainty in international operations and enhancing mutual trust between countries. Our investigation explores another side of interstate cooperation by discussing the potential risks that can emerge from it. Our fulcrum for exploring risks comes from an explicit consideration of the divergent interests that can exist between nation states and business. We focus on the phenomenon known as bilateral treaties on extradition, which enable one country to request the repatriation of fugitives or convicted criminals from another country through official cooperation. Extradition treaties extend the jurisdictional influence of a firm's home country to a host country. This mechanism can create concerns for firms when they are motivated to use FDI to escape from their home country, especially from certain emerging markets with weak institutions. We propose that emerging market firms can be motivated to circumvent host countries that have established extradition treaties with their home country. Both private-owned and state-owned enterprises can show this behavior, albeit the effect is weaker for state-owned enterprises as compared to private-owned ones. The effect is particularly strong on firms that have documented malfeasance in their home country. We test these ideas on outward FDI made by Chinese firms in 106 foreign countries during 2001–2013.

This study distinguishes heterogeneity and inequality by exploring how nationality diversity influences leadership perceptions in multinational teams. Using two studies that assessed 105 (Study 1) and 40 (Study 2) teams comprising 4,120 and 2,180 dyads respectively, we find that nationality-based status influences leadership perceptions directly and indirectly through competence perceptions of higher-status peers. Nationality-based identity had no direct effect, but some evidence suggests an indirect effect on leadership that was mediated by warmth perceptions of culturally similar peers. These findings highlight nationality as a source of inequality beyond heterogeneity, elucidating the social perceptual paths that shape leadership in multinational contexts.

The study applies multiple logics based on institutional theory to explain how state ownership influences Chinese firms’ outward foreign direct investment (OFDI). A sample of Chinese listed private firms is used to understand which logic dominates the relationship between Chinese private firms’ state ownership and their OFDI in developed economies (OFDI-in-DE). We find that state ownership depresses Chinese private firms’ OFDI-in-DE, supporting the institution-(in)compatible logic, and that government subsidies weaken this negative effect, while negative media coverage of these firms strengthens it. The findings imply that the institution-incompatible logic dominates the influence of state ownership on Chinese private firms’ OFDI-in-DE.

Promoting women's empowerment in institutionally fragile contexts has been overlooked in global value chain (GVC) analysis, despite the recognition of its importance by UN SDG 5. Building on GVC governance and feminist institutional theories, we evaluate three aspects of an intervention led by an international non-governmental organization to empower women within socially and economically fragile environments. Using a unique dataset collected between 2018 and 2020 from 2,143 individuals in artisanal mining communities, our findings show that the intervention that promotes economic incentives and facilitates female leadership is positively related to women's inclusion and some empowerment indicators, yet its self-sustainability remains difficult within these challenging contexts.

This study applies a recruitment lens to examine how the proactive internationalization of new ventures might influence job seeker perceptions of organizational attractiveness. Using signaling theory and person-environment fit theory to develop our hypotheses, we employ a metric conjoint experiment with 209 job seekers (making 3344 decisions). Our multilevel regression results suggest that the international new venture (INV) strategy of proactive internationalization presents an ambivalent recruiting signal to job seekers. However, this effect is positively moderated by job seekers’ personal initiative and international experience. We offer implications for signaling theory in international entrepreneurship, and practical implications for staffing INVs.

Our study addresses an inconsistency in the literature on whether a lack of knowledge in early internationalizing firms is an obstacle or an advantage. We integrate learning, capabilities, and improvisation literature to reveal how case firms from New Zealand and Finland internationalize early under uncertainty and time pressure. We develop a process model and propositions to show how firms develop improvisation capabilities and subsequently rapidly acquire the international business knowledge that can explain early internationalization. Improvisation and the associated rapid learning complement the learning advantage of newness with an alternative explanation for early internationalization.

Over the past decade, a consensus has crystallized recognizing the significance of family firm internationalization in international business (IB) research. This recognition comes with substantial opportunities, yet it also presents challenges, such as the pressing need for a more cohesive integration of the family business and IB domains. In this article, we (re)emphasize the relevance of family firm internationalization for IB research considering three IB grand challenges and two important aspects of internationalization where family firms can particularly contribute. We also propose several theoretical and methodological avenues for future studies to help further increase the understanding of family firm internationalization and of IB theories. Finally, we provide an overview of the core insights from the articles included in the related special issue and develop integrative conclusions about the research.

We compare migrant professionals’ experiences of language-based discrimination across physical and virtual spaces. The minority status of these professionals stems from their foreign origin and lack of proficiency in the local language of their new country of residence. We conducted a case study of a multinational corporation after a shift to remote work triggered by COVID-19. Our findings indicate that while language-based discrimination takes more interpersonal and overt forms in physical spaces, it becomes more organizational and subtle in virtual spaces. We shed light on how technology dependency and dispersion affect the forms and experiences of language-based discrimination in different spaces. Our contribution lies in defining language-based discrimination as a construct of modern discrimination, which has received scant attention in previous research.

Organizational unlearning occurs when organizations cast-off knowledge, beliefs, or routines. A key assumption is that the discarded information inhibits organizational performance. This view ignores the possibility that organizations may intentionally unlearn practices that are useful for some stakeholders. Using qualitative methods over eight years, we studied the processes by which a subsidiary of a French multinational company (MNC) unlearned diversity management when it was sold to a Polish state owner. This case enables us to understand the processes by which organizations unlearn, the power of the institutional environment in shaping the abandonment of diversity management, once a subsidiary changes ownership.