Configurations of weight, voice and distance and headquarters positive attention: Weight matters most

Abstract

Weight, voice, and distance are proposed in the literature as determinants of positive attention from MNC headquarters for subsidiaries. Few studies have, however, investigated how combinations of these three causal conditions may jointly impact positive attention. Based on the existing literature, we hypothesize how different combinations result in subsidiaries’ gaining headquarters attention. We test our hypotheses using qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) leading to the surprising result that any combination of conditions including subsidiary weight leads to attention as outcome, including weight alone. We further substantiate this result through regression analysis using survey data. Together, our empirical studies show that weight alone is related to headquarters’ positive attention, while voice and distance do not play a decisive role in influencing headquarters’ positive attention for subsidiaries abroad. These findings challenge existing research claiming voice as a means to gain headquarters’ attention, especially for distant or peripheral subsidiaries.