International entrepreneurship and organizational learning : a study of Chinese international firms

Abstract

This study aims to explore what the motivation of international entrepreneurship is in the domestic market and how international entrepreneurial firms survive in foreign market. Based on a sample of 212 Chinese international firms, it examines the level of internationalization of organizational field as an antecedent of international entrepreneurship from a neoinstitutional theory perspective. Exploitative and exploratory learning are considered as consequences of international entrepreneurship, because firms seek to achieve legitimacy in the host country. The nonlinear relationship between exploitative and exploratory learning and performance are further tested. Findings suggest that isomorphic pressure from the organizational field will cause firms to engage in international entrepreneurial activities. In order to get legitimacy in a host country, international entrepreneurship, in turn, is positively associated with the above two learning processes. Results also support that although exploitative and exploratory learning are beneficial, they would weaken a firm's performance in a foreign market, after a certain point. Keywords: international entrepreneurship, institutional isomorphism, neoinstitutional theory, legitimacy