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PurposeThe psychic distance often hinders the interaction between cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) and consumers. This paper aims to discuss the issues of psychic distance of consumers in the CBEC. In addition, it attempts to explain the factors that affect psychic distance from three dimensions of culture, economy and politics and the two different shopping behaviors caused by psychic distance.Design/methodology/approachThis research incorporates both theoretical and empirical studies. In this study, 249 validated questionnaires were selected from 300 Chinese CBEC consumers by snowball sampling, and the relationship between variables was tested using structural equation model (SEM). This was done through online research, and it is ensured that the data obtained are first-hand information.FindingsThe paper suggests the theoretical model operationalizing CBEC psychic distance and the empirical analysis results show that all the six influencing factors have a positive impact on the psychic distance of consumers. Logistics infrastructure barriers in the economic dimension are confirmed as the major influencing factor, and the significance of the political dimension is relatively small. Based on consumers' uncertainty of various kinds of information, psychic distance subconsciously causes consumers to deviate in the cross-shopping process.Originality/valueCurrently, research on e-commerce mainly focuses on saving trade costs and improving consumer welfare, while research on the internal impact of CBEC on consumers is insufficient. Psychic distance is a new concept in the field of cultural and social research. The originality of this paper is that the concept of psychic distance has been extended from overseas invested enterprises to research with CBEC consumers as the selected object. The obstacles of CBEC have been widely studied, but few are related to the closeness of consumers, or the inner feelings of consumers are ignored. In the context of CBEC, this paper lists the actual external factors and potential threats that may affect consumers' consumption concerns of CBEC from three dimensions. The real emotions of consumers in the face of these difficulties indirectly affect the purchase satisfaction and reduce the purchase desire. Consumer psychic distance is a real phenomenon in cross-border shopping, and it is almost inevitable for these difficulties. On the premise of inevitability, high psychic distance will slow down cross-border shopping in the eyes of consumers.

Prior research suggests that corporate boards and directors play important roles in firm strategy and performance. In this paper, we examine an important yet underexplored avenue and focus on their role in overcoming multilevel psychic distance (PD) faced by internationalizing small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) originating from an emerging market. Analyzing Indian Fintech SMEs, using multiple case studies, our findings reveal that boards contribute important network-level resources and knowledge about foreign markets, which in turn assists internationalizing SMEs in mitigating PD. We demonstrate that the human and social capital of boards’ play important, yet, distinctly different, roles in mitigating PD at pre- and post-internationalization phases. At the pre-internationalization phase directors’ prior international and industry experience, as well as board interlocks and prior connections, are most valuable, whereas, at the post-entry phase, transnational boards, and those with stronger trust-based personal relationships (i.e., greater depth of social capital (Haynes and Hillman, 2010), facilitate faster experiential learning. Taken together, our findings contribute novel insights into the mechanisms through which boards affect the outcomes of firms operating, and originating from, extreme institutional environments. We further draw implications for research and practice.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to focus on consumers’ reactions to cross-border acquisitions (CBA) by exploring the role of consumer perceptions of the psychic distance between the country of the acquirer and that of the target firm when the acquiring corporation has a good or poor reputation. Design/methodology/approach A 2×2 experimental design which manipulated psychic distance and acquirer’s corporate reputation was conducted in Italy. The study considers an Italian food target firm and compares four foreign acquiring firms with different combinations of corporate reputation (good/poor) and psychic distance to Italy (small/large). Findings The authors found that the degree of psychic distance between the countries of the acquiring and targeted firms was inversely related to Italian consumers’ intentions to repurchase the products of the post-acquisition target, and unrelated to the acquirer’s corporate reputation. Originality/value This is the first study focusing on psychic distance in the context of CBA, especially from the perspective of consumer behavior, which can help to better understand certain negative reactions toward the acquisition of a business.

This study investigates the role of different dimensions of distance (interorganizational versus intraorganizational, physical versus psychic) on the success of offshore outsourcing of innovation projects. Using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis, we identify organizational configurations of spatial, temporal, cultural and linguistic distances that are more likely to lead to successful collaborative outcomes from offshore outsourcing of innovation projects. The findings show that co-location by itself is insufficient to achieve successful offshore outsourcing of innovation but requires, in addition, the presence of high inter-organizational physical distance combined with low intra-organizational psychic distance. Our study highlights the need to jointly consider intra- and inter-organizational distances and both physical and psychic dimensions of distance in offshore outsourcing of innovation.

This study investigates individual managers’ formation of psychic distance perceptions to foreign countries. Adopting a social psychological perspective, we propose three social-cognitive mechanisms - social comparison, mere exposure, and social learning - to help explain why and how country- and individual-level characteristics affect the formation of such perceptions. Based on an international survey of 1,591 managers located in 25 countries, we find that country-specific international experience, formal education, and a match between a managers’ first language and the language of the target country reduce psychic distance perceptions. Surprisingly, and in contrast to conventional wisdom, managers’ international and overall work experiences do not seem to have any effect on their distance perceptions. However, relative to country-level factors, individual-level antecedents seem to have rather limited explanatory power as predictors of overall psychic distance perceptions, lending support to the widely-employed practice of operationalizing psychic distances through country level indicators. In addition to these empirical findings, the study contributes by providing a theoretical social psychological framework for the understanding of how psychic distance perceptions are formed.

We expand the conceptualization of psychic distance and use a multilevel framework by studying it as a founder’s psychic distance in the pre-entry phase of entering a specific foreign market, and the SMEs (firm) psychic distance in the post-entry phase of entering that specific foreign market. Based on qualitative research involving six SMEs’ with 18 internationalization events, we found that psychic distance at country and business levels causes difficulties for SMEs in the post-entry phase because of their lack of knowledge. Bridge-makers possessing knowledge about target markets help SMEs to overcome psychic distance challenges. Trust in the relationship with the bridge-maker is an important ingredient to gain knowledge that alleviates the SMEs’ psychic distance challenges. Finally, we go beyond country-business levels of psychic distance by showing that psychic distance also matters at bridge-maker level. This relates to their lack of knowledge about the target market and SMEs’ routines.

PurposeThe study aims to investigate how the collaborative activities of joint action and knowledge-sharing between cross-border buyers and sellers influence the affect-state of buyers and eventually develop their strategic performance under the contingent condition of psychic distance.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data collected from 235 Taiwanese importers were analyzed using partial least squares to test the proposed conceptual framework.FindingsJoint action and knowledge-sharing are found to increase buyer’s engagement and affective commitment. Psychic distance is found to weaken the effect of collaborative activities on engagement and affective commitment. Both engagement and affective commitment are found to increase strategic performance, and the findings confirm their intervening role in the collaborative activities-strategic performance relationship.Originality/valueThe study offers insights into the under researched areas of collaborative activities and strategic performance in international exchanges and highlights the role of psychic distance in the success or failure of relational exchanges in international environments. The study introduces the concept of engagement and advances the theoretical understanding of the concept’s significance and application in international buyer–seller exchanges.

Although value creation is the overarching goal of interfirm exchange relationships, there is little research on relationship value in business markets in general and in global business markets in particular. The current research draws on the theoretical perspectives of dynamic capabilities, relational contracting, industry structure view, and Uppsala model of internationalization and synthesizes their insights to develop a model of customer-perceived relationship value in importer-exporter relationships. A mail survey was used to collect data from 211 import distributors of industrial products. The study results indicate that exporter core offering and customer responsiveness capabilities, importer market-sensing and customer relationship management capabilities, relational governance, psychic distance, and environmental munificence are important determinants of relationship value, while contractual governance has no detectable effect. Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed and future research directions are presented.

As trade barriers fell, South African enterprises faced new competition in their previously protected home market. With established markets becoming saturated, multinational enterprises (MNEs) steered towards emerging markets abroad. Geographically, South Africa is an intrinsic part of Africa, and psychic distance, defined as consisting of, interalia, differences in language, culture and business practices, can disturb the flow of business between an enterprise and the world. Physical proximity to countries makes it easier for enterprises to understand the culture and business practices, and reduces the uncertainty and risk of the new market. Perceived distance into Africa and elsewhere is also influenced by the specific consumer attributes and behaviours. Enterprises perform best inforeign markets where consumer behaviour is most receptive to a company’s goods and services. The study empirically investigated perceptions of psychic distance and foreign consumer factors in FDI decision making by senior executives of South African MNEs. The findings suggest that psychic distance is relatively unimportant and foreign consumer factors relatively important in FDI decision making.Key words: Psychic distance, consumers, executive biographical factors, South African MNEs, senior executive perceptions

International audience; Purpose – This research aims to investigate the interacting effect of two forms of psychic distance (business and cultural) on export relationship management. Specifically, this research examines the moderating role of cultural distance in the effect of business distance on different dimensions of relationship management and financial export performance.Design/Methodology/Approach – This research builds on a sample of 174 French export executives who were asked to rate their views of their relationship with their Chinese business counterpart in the wine trade, and their related performance.Findings – A first finding lies in the strong positive effects of relationship management, relationship investment, and communication quality on financial export performance. A second and important finding relates to the different effects of the business and cultural dimensions of psychic distance: while the former positively affects relationship management, the latter negatively moderates the effect of business distance on relationship management.Research limitations/Implications – One limitation pertains to the focus on France and China as the only countries involved in the current research. Future research could investigate whether the results replicate in different countries. Further studies would also be needed to enrich the relationship management dimensions and test whether the effects observed here replicate in relation to other dimensions.Practical Implications – For export managers, this research offers a better understanding of business and cultural distance, and their effects on relationship structuring. Specifically, our results indicate that cultural distance matters more than business distance, meaning that business distance can help relationship management only when cultural distance is low. In addition, the results indicate that wine producers might gain from communicating openly with their business counterparts, for instance, by clearly explaining the business objectives, or through continuous interactions, and temporal and financial investments.Originality Value – The originality of this research lies in identifying the interaction effect of the business and cultural dimensions of psychic distance, with cultural distance revealed as a boundary condition for the effects of business distance on relationship management. The findings clarify the effects of both psychic business distance and cultural distance on structuring export relationship, which will help export managers to adapt diverse strategies on the structuring and operating the relationship. The inclusion of marketing and financial aspects constitutes a further original aspect.; Purpose – This research aims to investigate the interacting effect of two forms of psychic distance (business and cultural) on export relationship management. Specifically, this research examines the moderating role of cultural distance in the effect of business distance on different dimensions of relationship management and financial export performance.Design/Methodology/Approach – This research builds on a sample of 174 French export executives who were asked to rate their views of their relationship with their Chinese business counterpart in the wine trade, and their related performance.Findings – A first finding lies in the strong positive effects of relationship management, relationship investment, and communication quality on financial export performance. A second and important finding relates to the different effects of the business and cultural dimensions of psychic distance: while the former positively affects relationship management, the latter negatively moderates the effect of business distance on relationship management.Research limitations/Implications – One limitation pertains to the focus on France and China as the only countries involved in the current research. Future research could investigate whether the results replicate in different countries. Further studies would also be needed to enrich the relationship management dimensions and test whether the effects observed here replicate in relation to other dimensions.Practical Implications – For export managers, this research offers a better understanding of business and cultural distance, and their effects on relationship structuring. Specifically, our results indicate that cultural distance matters more than business distance, meaning that business distance can help relationship management only when cultural distance is low. In addition, the results indicate that wine producers might gain from communicating openly with their business counterparts, for instance, by clearly explaining the business objectives, or through continuous interactions, and temporal and financial investments.Originality Value – The originality of this research lies in identifying the interaction effect of the business and cultural dimensions of psychic distance, with cultural distance revealed as a boundary condition for the effects of business distance on relationship management. The findings clarify the effects of both psychic business distance and cultural distance on structuring export relationship, which will help export managers to adapt diverse strategies on the structuring and operating the relationship. The inclusion of marketing and financial aspects constitutes a further original aspect.

This paper investigates the extent to which eco-innovation activities in multinational enterprises (MNEs) in a host country affects local firms. In the attention-based view, the organizational attention field is significant for innovation. By analyzing the Korean Innovation Survey and patent data, we find that as more foreign MNEs conduct eco-innovation locally, attention to environmental issues increases in local firms. Their attention field particularly benefits from the presence of foreign MNEs whose country-of-origin is close to the host country or who have a long-term presence in the host country. A larger attention field then improves the likelihood of local firms successfully implementing eco-innovation and can accelerate eco-innovation implementation; however, this effect is observed only in large local firms and thus able to redeploy abundant internal resources.

When multinational corporations face foreign marketing crises, the psychic distance between the home and host country represents a distinct challenge. This paper examines the curvilinear relationship between psychic distance and firm performance during marketing crises, and the moderating role of marketing capabilities. We test our hypotheses using an event study on a panel dataset of 217 firms based in 19 countries facing crises in 41 host countries. The results show that (1) marketing crises are most harmful when the host country is either very close or far away and (2) firms can mitigate this effect with marketing capabilities.

Value creation is the raison d'etre of a business relationship. Yet a relatively small number of studies investigate the role of relationship value in interfirm relationships in general and in cross-border business relationships in particular. This work synthesizes and extends existing research to present a conceptual model that identifies the key antecedents and outcomes of relationship value in international channel relationships. The study uses both a correlational (partial least squares-structural equation modeling) and a configurational (fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis) approach to test the model relationships. Comparing the findings of both approaches provides insights into the asymmetric versus symmetric relationships among the observations. The study results reveal the important roles of psychic distance, relational norms, and relationship learning in relationship value creation and the implications of relationship value in terms of relationship quality and performance.

We examined how psychic distance moderates the association of South Korean chief executive officers’ (CEOs’) knowledge and quality management with their predisposition to invest in African technology and innovation markets. Participants were current and prospective South Korean African business investment senior managers (n = 64; 20 females; mean years in management = 19.4) or not (n = 187; 97 females, mean years in management = 15.9). Hierarchical regression analysis was used to analyse the relationships. Only quality management was significantly related to technology commercialisation capabilities and innovation performance among managers with African investment experience. However, both quality and knowledge management were significantly related to the outcomes among managers without African investment experience. The effect of psychic distance might be explained by risk averseness, in that those without experience of African investment might be with more risk avoidant than those with such experience.

Psychic distance, now established as an individual perceptual construct, is so far a partial explanation of internationalization processes of entrepreneurial firms. Opportunity in foreign markets, although considered important, has hitherto been an assumption rather than explored as an explanatory factor in internationalization theories. Through qualitative data from technology entrepreneurs from New Zealand this study considers opportunity, like psychic distance, as an individual perceptual construct and posits that a combination of opportunity and psychic distance perceptions better explains entrepreneurial internationalization action/intention decisions. The explicit combination proposed is “opportunity-distance quotient” and signifies a shift from psychic distance obstacles based explanations to an opportunity-psychic distance interaction based exploration of entrepreneurial internationalization. Limitations of the study and further research are discussed.

The development of information technology projects is no longer limited to the domestic sphere. This study identifies the differentiation of risk categories between global and domestic projects through an exploratory research carried out by means of a systematic literature review. 1367 risks were identified in 37 articles and classified within 22 categories. The major concern regarded in domestic project management was the client (external risk) and scope (internal risk) and, in global project management, the psychic distance (external) and coordination and control (internal). The main difference between the risk categories for each project type refers to the psychic distance category, which was identified almost exclusively in global projects, thus making the external risks more relevant than those in domestic projects. On the other hand, it makes risks such as client, supplier and stakeholders be underestimated. The results indicate that project managers should focus on different risks depending on the type of IT project: global or domestic.

Marketing adaptation strategy has been characterized as a strategic imperative in markets with protectionist and nationalist sentiments, which underscores the need to better understand the effects of adaptation strategy. However, empirical investigations of international marketing strategy have considered mandatory and discretionary adaptations as equivalent. Discretionary adaptations, unlike mandatory adaptations, involve choice; thus, they are more relevant to the selection of an international marketing strategy. This article focuses on the direct and conditional effects of discretionary adaptation on export performance. Analyzing data from 203 U.S. small and medium-sized enterprises, the authors find a positive effect of discretionary adaptation on export performance as well as moderating effects of (1) a market characteristic (psychic distance), (2) a firm characteristic (international experience), and (3) a product characteristic (product positional advantage). The implications suggest that adaptation strategy may be more advantageous than previously thought, and that researchers should focus on discretionary adaptations when investigating the choice of a relatively standardized versus adapted international marketing strategy.

The emergence and quick rise of online shops has dramatically changed the retail industry over the last decade (Gartner Industry Research 2012). E‐commerce already accounts for 2.45 % (EUR 423 bn) of European GDP (E‐Commerce Europe 2015). At the same time, internationalization of retailers is an ongoing trend.

The current study examines the conditions under which a fixed and growth mindset affects managers’ decisions regarding the level of adaptation and involvement in cross-border strategies. Grounded in the implicit theory from psychology, we developed a model that includes psychic distance as the boundary condition of this effect. To test our hypotheses, a 2 (fixed vs. growth mindset) by 2 (low vs. high psychic distance) between-subjects experimental design was employed. Two hundred and fifty-two international marketing managers from firms based in Greece were recruited to take part in the study and were randomly assigned to one of the four experimental conditions. Results revealed that mindset had a significant effect on adaptation intentions. Furthermore, psychic distance moderated the above effect; more specifically, in the low psychic distance condition, growth mindset managers demonstrated higher adaptation intentions than fixed mindset managers, whereas, in the high psychic distance condition, both growth and fixed mindsets opted for similar levels of adaptation. In addition, the effect of mindset on entry mode was strengthened for low psychic distance as growth mindset managers tend to select higher involvement business arrangements than their fixed mindset counterparts. The current study offered insights into the international marketing and consumer psychology literatures by introducing mindset as a new antecedent of adaptation and entry mode decisions, and showed under which conditions managers take internationalization decisions. Moreover, the proven effect of mindset on international marketing decisions has equally important implications for organizations. We support the view that managers are boundedly rational, therefore neglecting their cognitive orientation and perception would generate flawed results. Therefore, chief stakeholders should not take for granted that their international marketing managers’ way of thinking will be aligned the firm’s idiosyncrasy and follow the intended cross-border strategies. In order to cultivate or acquire a desirable mindset, relevant and carefully designed internal and external training sessions are deemed necessary for senior and international marketing managers.

This study contributes to the understanding of how firms should structure their purchasing organization to improve their performance. While the research into structural characteristics’ impacts on purchasing performance is evolving, it is still incomplete, especially concerning the contingencies on different purchasing environments. Drawing on ideas from the organizational information processing and contingency approaches as well as the international business literature, the present study proposes a model in which three key organizational structure characteristics – centralization, standardization, and specialization – are associated with purchasing performance. This study posits that the relationships are contingent on a purchasing location’s formal and informal institutional context. Based on a sample of 195 German manufacturers, the model is empirically tested using structural equation modeling. The findings support the relevance of organizational structure characteristics for international purchasing and firm performance and they also support the notion that the effects are contingent on the purchasing location’s institutional context.

Despite extensive research on the effect of organisational learning processes on firm performance, how and when a propensity to learn influences the export performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) remains unclear. Using multiple-informant and time-lagged primary data from 242 SMEs in a sub-Saharan African market, this study examines the roles of marketing programme planning and host country psychic distance in linking export learning orientation to export performance. Findings from the study show that increases in both export learning orientation and marketing programme planning are associated with increases in export performance. In addition, the study finds that while increases in psychic distance weaken the effect of export learning orientation on export performance, it strengthens the effect of marketing programme planning on export performance. These findings draw attention to the idea that cognitive distance between home and host country markets may play a paradoxical role in explaining when organisational learning activities may help or hurt exporting SMEs.

Despite much research on “distance”, little attention has been paid to the effect of divergence of managers’ perceptions of distance from reality (i.e. distance divergence) and its implications for firm performance. This knowledge is highly important since managerial perceptions of the firm’s environment do not always coincide with the actual environmental characteristics. Consequently, strategies based on inaccurate data may result in erroneous forecasts, missed opportunities and business failure. Using survey data from senior managers of Swedish exporters and corresponding objective data, this study is a first attempt to explore the ex-post performance implications of “distance divergence” when expanding into foreign markets. Our results demonstrate that the larger the divergence between managers’ perceptions of cultural distance and corresponding “objective” distance, the lower the performance expressed in companies’ sales. However, over/underestimation of cultural distance does not have differential effects on firm performance. “Stiftelsen Olle Hakelius Stipendiefond”, Grant no: 1165001.

Internationalization decisions represent major objects of international business research; in this context, the respective role of decision-makers, i.e., strategic actors has been under study for now nearly 50 years. However, some important individual characteristics of strategic actors, which seem to influence individual decision-making in a significant way, have been – in contrast to general management research – widely disregarded. Among those characteristics, narcissism plays a decisive role. Trying to provide a first attempt to fill this research gap our paper aims at theorizing on as well as empirically analyzing potential relationships between narcissistic tendencies of CEOs and their internationalization decisions. The empirical study of major German manufacturing firms over the period 2004–2013 shows that CEOs with a high degree of narcissism tend to intensify business activities abroad in general while the expected effect on intensified activities in markets with a high psychic distance cannot be identified. These research results help to better understand the drivers of firms’ internationalization, stress the importance of recognizing managerial decision-making in the context of analyzing business activities abroad, and improve the prediction of CEOs’ decision-making behavior in general.

Taking a longitudinal approach, we analyze how the evolution of different dimensions of social capital between an SME (Small and Medium enterprise) and its key foreign customers directly influences the firm’s foreign performance growth. Moreover, we utilize a contingency approach by introducing two dyad-specific characteristics into the analysis: psychic and geographic interorganizational distances. Our findings contribute to the international business literature on social capital and suggest that while an investment in social capital with distant foreign customers always reinforces SMEs’ foreign performance development, relational and cognitive social capital have the same positive effects only for low levels of interorganizational psychic distance.

Purpose This paper has two objectives in the area of industrialised small- and medium-sized industrial company (SME) export activity. First, it responds to the gap in the literature on the role of market intelligence in the interrelations between perceived psychic distance, marketing mix decisions and export performance. The second objective concerns the influence of resource heterogeneity (size and export department) in the proposed model. Design/methodology/approach The current paper tests a posited research model and its hypotheses using the data from a multi-sector sample of exporters (196 Spanish industrial SMEs). The data are analyzed using a partial least squares approach. Findings The results of the empirical study show that: strategic decisions to adapt marketing mix elements to suit foreign markets have a positive effect on export performance; strategic adaptations are more numerous when export managers perceive a greater psychic distance; an export department helps develop market intelligence ability, which positively moderates the impact of strategic adaptations on export performance; and size does not have a significant effect on the interrelations studied. Practical implications Export managers in industrial SMEs can use the results and conclusions of this present paper to systematise their decision-making in export activity. Originality/value This paper makes a significant contribution towards covering an important gap in research into industrial SME exporters, by demonstrating the importance of market intelligence in export activity.

This article explores how within-country diversity of both language and religion influences the ownership structure of foreign acquisitions. Commentators have acknowledged the potential importance of "within-country diversity," but to date this issue has received minimal empirical attention. We propose that diversity plays two distinct roles. Namely, diversity within the host country may be an additional source of behavioral uncertainty and information asymmetry, over and above the effects arising from cross-national differences. Moreover, diversity within the home country may increase the cognitive complexity of the decision makers, moderating the firm's response to the distance and diversity of the host country. Results based on foreign acquisitions across 67 acquirer and 69 target countries confirm both of these roles. While the main focus of this article is on the role that within-country diversity plays in international business decisions, it also makes contributions in terms of expanding the range of dimensions of distance investigated in the cross-border acquisition literature, in highlighting a potentially positive role that diversity might play in such acquisitions, and in providing a potential explanation for asymmetries in distance - that is, differences in cognitive complexity.

Already on its introduction into the international business literature, the concept of ‘psychic distance’ implied asymmetry in the distance perceptions between country pairs, a characteristic corroborated in subsequent empirical studies. However, predominant empirical operationalizations and their theoretical underpinnings assume psychic distances to be symmetric. Building on insights from psychology and sociology, this paper demonstrates how national factors and cognitive processes interact in the formation of asymmetric distance perceptions. The results suggest that exposure to other countries through emigrants and imports of cultural goods and services have asymmetric effects on psychic distance perceptions. The size of these effects appears to vary with the size of the home country – smaller countries tend, on average, to perceive psychic distances to the rest of the world as smaller than do bigger ones. The reputational status of target countries relative to that of the home country is found to have a non-linear, asymmetric effect on distance perceptions.

This paper examines the effect of ethnic populations on international opportunity exploitation at a societal, or national, level. Past research shows a relationship between ethnic ties and international opportunity at an individual level; however, little is known about the role of ethnic ties and international opportunity at a national level, which is called ‘ethno-national ties’ in this study. In order to acquire in-depth knowledge of this subject, we studied a population of Chinese who are living outside their home country and applied contingency theory principles to investigate environmental boundary conditions that affect this population. Data collected from Chinese exporters indicate an overall positive effect of ethno-national ties on international opportunity exploitation—an effect that is influenced by three moderating variables: technological turbulence, psychic distance, and export barriers. Technological turbulence and export barriers weaken the effect of ethno-national ties on international opportunity exploitation while psychic distance enhances the effect.

We examine population density effects on foreign firms’ likelihood to exit from a host country. The lack of constitutive legitimacy is an important aspect of the liability of foreignness experienced by foreign firms. Both foreign firms from a focal firm’s home country and foreign firms from other countries can provide constitutive legitimation for the focal firm. These intrapopulation and interpopulation legitimation effects strengthen with a greater psychic distance between the home and host countries; they also interact with and strengthen each other. Results based on a dataset containing 68,723 firm-year observations on 29,843 foreign firms in China support our predictions.

The purpose of this research is to contribute to the ongoing debate about whether psychic distance still plays a vital role in the internationalisation of SMEs from emerging markets. Drawing on the prior research which suggests the salient impact of institutional factors on internationalisation, we investigate the role of home country institutions in international market selection. Adopting a multi-case methodology, we collected semi-structured interview data from six small and medium-sized manufacturing firms in China. Our findings suggest that while psychic distance is still important in some circumstances, both formal institutions, such as government support, and informal institutions, such as business and political guanxi, enable Chinese SMEs to choose psychically distant markets. Our findings also indicate that informal institutions interact with formal institutions to further influence SMEs’ international market selection. This research contributes to SME internationalisation studies by revealing how formal and informal institutional factors override psychic distance in influencing international market selection.

This study analyzes whether customer perceptions towards sustainability are affected by a company&rsquo, s country of origin and sourcing strategies. This study builds upon the literature regarding customer interest in sustainable products. It adds the country of origin to the link between customer and company, and analyzes if and how customer perceptions change when they are introduced to a sustainability scandal, hence analyzing possible &lsquo, association by guilt&rsquo, It compares their reactions to offshore scandals and to local scandals, therefore taking psychic distance as an important variable into consideration. Customer perceptions of company sustainability was found to have an impact on purchasing behavior. Findings show that perceptions are influenced by psychic distance. Furthermore, companies should take into account the risk of association by guilt when developing their global sourcing strategies.

The aim of this paper is to highlight the importance of the firm’s strategic objectives regarding the choice of countries for foreign expansion, complementing the existing literature on the internationalisation process. Through a multiple case study methodology, we conduct a comparative analysis of three Brazilian ventures that have internationalised in Italy, and three Italian firms that have internationalised in Brazil, seeking to investigate the firms’ decisions on the selection of foreign markets. We consider jointly the objective aspects of distance, the overall perceptions of the decision-makers in relation to the differences between the domestic and (potential) host countries, and the firm’s strategic objectives. This research contributes to International Business studies by revealing the role of firm-specific strategic objectives as determinants of foreign market selection, in addition to, or even on top of, the dimensions of objective distance and psychic distance.

W liczącej już kilka dekad literaturze dotyczącej internacjonalizacji przedsiębiorstw istnieje wiele nurtów badawczych, których systematyki dokonywano wielokrotnie. Terytorialny zakres internacjonalizacji należy do najstarszych problemów badawczych w dziedzinie procesu internacjonalizacji przedsiębiorstwa. Początkowo był on analizowany jako koncentracja vs. dywersyfikacja (Ayal, Zif, 1978). Obecnie zakres internacjonalizacji jest jednym ze składników większości mierników jej stopnia (Kuivalainen, Sundqvist, Saarenko, 2012). Na ogół małe i średnie przedsiębiorstwa w początkowych etapach procesu internacjonalizacji dokonują ekspansji na bliskie lub sąsiadujące rynki, na których tzw. dystans psychiczny (psychic distance) jest mały (Johanson, Vahlne, 1977). Natomiast przedsiębiorstwa transnarodowe, multinarodowe i globalne częściej funkcjonują na rynkach globalnych (Vahlne, Ivarssonn, 2014; Wach, 2014). Ponadto na zakres internacjonalizacji wpływają też inne czynniki, np. branża, w której działa firma, innowacyjność czy zaawansowanie technologiczne (high-tech/ low-tech) (Daszkiewicz, 2015). Głównymi celami empirycznymi artykułu są: identyfikacja kluczowych czynników determinujących terytorialny zakres internacjonalizacji badanych przedsiębiorstw oraz określenie siły wpływu tych czynników na zakres ich działalności międzynarodowej. Artykuł prezentuje cząstkowe wyniki badań przeprowadzonych na próbie 355 zinternacjonalizowanych przedsiębiorstw. Przebadano je za pomocą kwestionariusza ankiety przy wykorzystaniu wywiadów CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing). Ankietyzacja została przeprowadzona w 2015 roku w ramach grantu OPUS realizowanego na Wydziale Ekonomii i Stosunków Międzynarodowych Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego w Krakowie. Obliczenia zostały wykonane za pomocą programu Statistica® PL v. 10.

This study analyzes the potential moderating effect of vicarious experience on the negative influence of psychic distance stimuli on foreign direct investment. Multinational enterprises can learn from the experience of other firms and benefit from higher opportunities to identify best practices and mistakes, acquire knowledge and develop capabilities, establish interactions and collaborations with suitable partners and gain legitimacy to overcome points of resistance. We analyze a sample of 164 Spanish multinational enterprises and show that a larger number of companies from the same home country in the host country positively moderate the negative influence of a greater psychic distance in the education, industrial development, democracy and social system stimuli. However, this moderating effect does not take place in the case of the language and religion stimuli, highlighting the importance of a fine-grain individual analysis of all distance dimensions, instead of relying on a single aggregated measure. Finally, our results show that total but also same- and different-sector vicarious experience exercise this moderating effect and that, contrary to previous empirical studies, no evidence of a substitution effect is found.

This paper delivers new insights into how psychic, cultural and geographical distance influence international marketing mix decisions on the basis of a choice-based conjoint analysis with 96 managers from Switzerland and Liechtenstein. In this experiment, the managers had to decide whether the four Ps of the marketing mix have to be adapted or standardised for international markets (neighbouring country/European country/non-European country). Overall we found that psychic, cultural and geographical distance have a significant moderating effect on the degree of marketing mix adaptation: the larger the distance towards a market, the more inclined the managers are to make a decision that involves a larger degree of adaptation of the four Ps towards the simulated markets. The marketing mix elements product and promotion tend mostly to be adapted when cultural distance increases, while the elements price and distribution are more adapted when psychic distance is high.

The aim of this paper is to scrutinize some aspects of the Uppsala model whose applicability for SMEs' internationalisation is often questioned. This model explains internationalisation as a sequential process based on learning in which an enterprise increases its international commitment in incremental steps (Johanson and Vahlne, 1977). The assumptions of Uppsala model are discussed in conditions of SMEs from different countries, namely the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Austria and Germany. The paper is based on primary data obtained by questionnaire survey performed in 2014. Respondents were small and medium-sized firms from the above mentioned countries. Following assumptions are scrutinized: SMEs start internationalisation by exporting to neighbouring markets, SMEs behave in internationalisation according to the establishment chain, SMEs' risk perception regarding foreign markets with different psychic distance changes with the obtained knowledge and SMEs' risk perception regarding particular foreign markets differs depending on the country which the enterprise comes from.

This paper throws light on the determinants of the duration of manufacturing offshore experiences by US and European firms prior to reshoring. By applying survival analysis to a dataset of 249 offshoring experiences terminated with a relocation to the home country/region, we estimate the effects of different groups of survival determinants. Results highlight that contextual factors such as the industry, the home country, the host country, and the size of the firm significantly affect the duration of offshoring experiences. The likelihood of termination is in fact higher for the electronics and automotive industries, for small firms, for firms headquartered in Europe, and for offshoring to Asia. The analysis of the motivations for reshoring shows that quality issues experienced offshore emerge as the key factor giving rise to shorter offshore stays. Based on these empirical findings, a set of testable propositions is developed. In particular, we conjecture that the likelihood of termination of offshore manufacturing and the return to the home country may be accelerated by technology-based industries, small firm sizes, shrinking cost differentials and the psychic distance between home and host country, the organizational archetypes, and quality related motivations.

Predictably, sales organizations invest substantial financial and human resources in developing effective salesforces and yet salespeople are among the highest 'risk group' in terms of staff turnover. For export sales settings, the organizational consequences of this form of turnover are even more severe. This study develops a comprehensive conceptual model of seventeen hypothesized relationships among key structural, supervisory-related, and psychological factors, and examines this nomological network that leads to explaining export sales managers' intentions to quit. The findings reveal the favorable impact of formalization and the unfavorable impact of centralization upon both role ambiguity and role conflict. The study finds that both formalization and centralization relate positively to the export sales management behavior control system. Role stressors deleteriously affect export sales managers' job satisfaction, which in turn affects negatively intentions to quit. The study also discovers moderation effects of psychic distance and export sales managers' experience. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. 24 3 367 379

We investigate how distance and different dimensions of distance between countries explain the outward FDI of firms according to distinct home country contexts. We identify three important dimensions of country distance: socio-economic development distance, cultural and historical distance and physical distance. We then empirically explore whether these dimensions receive different weights when explaining the location of FDI depending on its origin by comparing the outward FDI of China and Spain using partial least squares-based structural equations modelling (SEM-PLS). We find that although country distance significantly explains the FDI of both countries, the weights of the three dimensions of distance depend on the home country context. More specifically, we find that all three dimensions of distance explain the direction of Spanish investments, whereas only cultural and historical distance significantly explains Chinese outward FDI. Our research advances the understanding of distance between countries, the dimensions of distance, and how context influences the impact of the dimensions of distance. Óscar Martín Martín wishes to thank the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, Project ECO2011-28991, for the financial support provided. Proyecto financiado por el Ministerio de Educación en el marco del Programa Campus de Excelencia Internacional, Programa de Ayudas para la movilidad del PDI de Campus Iberus.

The definitive version of record is available at https://doi.org/10.1177/0276146718796899., At a time when government support for international humanitarian aid is decreasing, organizations devoted to helping in times of disaster are looking ever more to the individual donor for financial contributions. In this paper, we explore the relationship between the donor and the distant other by introducing the concepts of psychic distance and psychic distance stimuli to the macromarketing literature and exploring the role of psychic distance in fundraising for international humanitarian aid. It is our contention that by better understanding the biases that psychic distance introduce into the system, an improved flow of donations for the betterment of the distant needy and a more effective marketing system can be achieved. We offer four propositions for future testing and exploration.

Purpose – Grounded in the Uppsala model, the purpose of this paper is to investigate specific firm factors of fashion service retailers, which include: product category offering, firm experience (limited vs extensive) and firm size (small vs large) and examines how variations in these firm characteristics produce significant differences on three aspects of internationalisation activities; scale and scope of internationalisation, market choice (geographic and cultural distance), and financial performance (international sales and profit), and whether market choice produces differences on financial performance. Design/methodology/approach – Secondary sources were utilised to empirically investigate retailers (n=118). Information regarding product category offering, year of establishment, number of employees, countries entered, international sales, and profit were collected from retailer web sites, press releases, and annual reports. Findings – There were significant differences between product category offering and firm size in retailers’ internationalisation behaviours, and there were significant differences between product category offering and market choice in their financial performance. Variations in firm experience did not produce any significant differences. Research limitations/implications – This study extends limited literature on the internationalisation of fashion service retailers and contributes knowledge of how variations in specific firm factors produce different outcomes in terms of internationalisation, market choice, and financial performance. Practical implications – Retailers offering functional products may be more flexible in their internationalisation. Firms regardless of experience or size may consider being active in international markets because variations in these factors does not impact performance. Originality/value – This study addresses multiple gaps in retailer internationalisation literature and findings point that product category should be considered when studying internationalisation of service firms.