Journal of International Management最新文献

{"title":"Cross-border data risk and firm performance: The moderating role of digital resilience and agility","authors":"Wanxiu Xu ,&nbsp;Xiaodong Zuo","doi":"10.1016/j.intman.2026.101350","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intman.2026.101350","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The growing fragmentation of global digital governance has made cross-border data flows an increasingly critical source of risk for firms. This study develops a three-dimensional framework—Institutional–Technological–Organizational—to classify cross-border data risks into three core types: regulatory complexity and volatility, data security challenges, and data-related business continuity risks. Drawing on organizational resilience theory, the study introduces two capability mechanisms—digital resilience and digital agility—to examine their moderating roles across distinct risk pathways. Based on two-wave survey data from 321 firms operating in China, the findings reveal that: (1) all three types of cross-border data risks significantly impair firm financial performance; (2) digital resilience provides a consistent buffering effect across all risk pathways; and (3) digital agility demonstrates significant moderating effects in technological and operational risk contexts, but not under institutional risk. These results underscore the context-dependent nature of digital capabilities and highlight the importance of capability–context fit in organizational risk management. This study is the first to construct and empirically validate a firm-level, multidimensional framework of cross-border data risks. It extends organizational resilience theory to the context of digital-era international risk and provides a theoretical and empirical foundation for firms to develop context-specific data risk governance strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Management","volume":"32 3","pages":"Article 101350"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148195928","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of alliance experience gained before regulatory change in China on subsequent entry-mode preference","authors":"Jinsil Kim ,&nbsp;Jun Xia ,&nbsp;Seung-Hyun Lee","doi":"10.1016/j.intman.2026.101370","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intman.2026.101370","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines how multinational enterprises' (MNEs) alliance experience accumulated under regulatory constraint shapes their subsequent entry-mode preferences following institutional liberalization. Leveraging China's 2003 reform permitting foreign acquisitions as a quasi-natural experiment, we disentangle competing experiential mechanisms—external market learning and internal governance inertia. We decompose pre-2003 alliance experience into two dimensions: diversity (breadth of partnerships) and intensity (length of alliance reliance). Using longitudinal data on 1782 MNEs from 40 countries (2003–2019), we find that alliance diversity increases the likelihood of post-liberalization acquisition preference, whereas alliance intensity does not exert an independent effect but attenuates the positive impact of diversity. These findings demonstrate that experience is not monolithic: learning accumulated under institutional constraint generates distinct and interacting strategic consequences. Regulatory liberalization does not reset firms to a blank slate; instead, governance legacies condition how newly available strategic options are evaluated.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Management","volume":"32 3","pages":"Article 101370"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148195939","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The liability of kinship and the internationalization of family firms: A qualitative study of a Greek family firm","authors":"Christos Antoniou ,&nbsp;Hanna Gajewska-De Mattos ,&nbsp;Luis Alfonso Dau ,&nbsp;Malcolm Chapman ,&nbsp;Peter J. Buckley","doi":"10.1016/j.intman.2026.101365","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intman.2026.101365","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We examine how the informal institution of “fictive kinship” impacts the international scope of family firms. Building on internalization theory, institutional theory, and social anthropological literature, we offer a new perspective on family firms' internationalization, exploring their contextual heterogeneity. We unpack family structures, which are idiosyncratic but with tangible consequences for internationalization decisions. We propose that internalization across borders will be constrained by the liability of kinship, which is especially pronounced in markets where fictive kinship informal institutional structures are dominant. Where fictive kinship is more prevalent, family firms remain longer in their early governance structures. This is due to the greater availability of family resources and increasing concentration on the family's socioeconomic wealth, leading to reduced interest in internationalization. We examine these arguments using a qualitative study of a Greek medium-sized family firm in the hospitality industry. We find that actors' definition of family depends on the context of family firms and impacts their motivation to internationalize.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Management","volume":"32 3","pages":"Article 101365"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148195932","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Book review: Ethnography in International Business: Learning from the Field, by Mary Yoko Brannen, Cambridge University Press (2025)","authors":"Christiaan Röell","doi":"10.1016/j.intman.2026.101366","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intman.2026.101366","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Management","volume":"32 3","pages":"Article 101366"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148195933","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How market openness, narrative distinctiveness, and innovation capability impact firm performance: A comparative study of Chinese and foreign platform enterprises in China","authors":"Bin Xiao ,&nbsp;Hongjia Ma","doi":"10.1016/j.intman.2026.101354","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intman.2026.101354","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In highly competitive markets, platform enterprises are increasingly relying on narrative behaviors to attract stakeholders and improve performance. Based on the optimal distinctiveness theory, this study investigates how narrative distinctiveness enhances the performance of platform firms, focusing on the mediating role of innovation capability, the moderating role of regional market openness, and differences between foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) and domestic enterprises in China. Using optimal distinctiveness theory, the research analyzes a sample of 322 firms listed on China's A-share market from 2007 to 2019 and applies fixed-effects regressions and configurational analyses. The results show that: (1) Narrative distinctiveness has a significantly positive effect on firm performance. (2) Innovation capability mediates the relationship between narrative distinctiveness and performance. (3) Regional market openness positively moderates the link between narrative distinctiveness and innovation capability. (4) FIEs strengthen this positive moderating effect of regional market openness. Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) uncovers five context-dependent paths to high performance: For domestic firms, young and small companies reach high performance through either narrative consistency or innovation capability in highly open markets, while younger firms benefit from the combination of both. For FIEs, young and large firms in closed markets leverage innovation capability and narrative consistency, whereas older and smaller firms in open markets depend on the synergy of narrative distinctiveness and innovation capability. This research expands the application of optimal distinctiveness theory to emerging markets and platform economies by incorporating institutional context and ownership differences. It also offers practical guidance for platform firms on developing context-aware narrative and innovation strategies, and provides methodological insights through the combination of regression and fsQCA.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Management","volume":"32 3","pages":"Article 101354"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148195934","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reassessing the potential of FDI for poverty reduction in Africa: A replication and extension of Gohou and Soumaré (2012)","authors":"Belyse Umwali,&nbsp;Yingqi Wei","doi":"10.1016/j.intman.2026.101337","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intman.2026.101337","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study undertakes a replication and extension of the work by Gohou and Soumaré (GS hereafter; World Development, 2012). Using a sample of 52 African countries from 1990 to 2007, GS found a positive relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and poverty reduction, moderated by regional integration. This paper reassesses the robustness of GS's findings by (1) reproducing their study and (2) conducting a replication and extension with updated data (1990–2022), measures of poverty and FDI, and moderators including institutional quality and the sectoral composition of investment. Our analysis fails to corroborate the results. We uncover no consistent evidence to support the hypothesis that FDI reduces poverty, and the regional patterns differ from those originally reported. In our extended analysis, FDI inflows per capita are positively associated with the Human Development Index (HDI), FDI stock demonstrates no consistent effect on HDI or poverty indicators. Regional variation in FDI effects is evident, though results remain inconsistent across measures. Institutional quality yields mixed outcomes: it interacts insignificantly with FDI per capita yet strengthens the relationship between FDI-to-GDP and outcomes such as life expectancy and infant mortality. Evidence concerning the prevalence of malnourishment remains inconclusive. A sectoral disaggregation indicates that FDI directed toward the primary sector is associated with adverse outcomes, whereas the effects in the secondary and tertiary sectors are mixed, with the tertiary sector showing statistically significant results. These findings underscore sensitivity of results to measurement choices and highlight the need for efforts to ensure FDI contributes meaningfully to poverty reduction.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Management","volume":"32 2","pages":"Article 101337"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147452418","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How subsidiaries leverage institutionally derived influence in headquarter strategy initiatives","authors":"Ivar Padrón-Hernández ,&nbsp;Edward Gillmore","doi":"10.1016/j.intman.2026.101344","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intman.2026.101344","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Research on headquarters–subsidiary relationships has shown how subsidiaries respond to local institutions, but less is known about how they leverage those same institutions to gain internal influence. Drawing on multiple case studies of three Nordic multinational enterprises (MNEs) and their longstanding subsidiaries in Japan, the United States, and Western Europe, we develop a model of how institutionally derived enablers of subsidiary influence facilitate subsidiary avoidance of and involvement in headquarter strategy initiatives. We uncover how subsidiaries mobilize different sets of rationales and tactics when wielding such influence. This study contributes to the literature on institutions in headquarters–subsidiary relationships by showing how subsidiaries actively interpret rather than passively relay information on local institutions and how local institutions foster longstanding subsidiary influence within the MNEs. Additionally, we broadly contribute to the subsidiary boundary-spanning literature by providing a more fine-grained understanding of the role of local institutions, as filtered through subsidiaries, in the implementation of headquarter strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Management","volume":"32 2","pages":"Article 101344"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147452907","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The impact of host country economic policy uncertainty on the performance of overseas subsidiaries - Evidence of Taiwanese MNEs in China","authors":"Yi-Chi Hsiao ,&nbsp;Chun-Ping Yeh ,&nbsp;Shih-Min Lin","doi":"10.1016/j.intman.2026.101341","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intman.2026.101341","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines how host-country economic policy uncertainty affects the performance of multinational enterprises' (MNEs') overseas subsidiaries. Using the economic policy uncertainty (EPU) index, we examine this relationship through the lenses of local embeddedness and absorptive capacity. Analyzing data from 1235 Taiwanese MNEs' investments in China (2007–2012), we find that China's economic policy uncertainty negatively influences Taiwanese MNE subsidiaries' performance. This adverse effect intensifies with the subsidiaries' local embeddedness in China; however, it is mitigated for subsidiaries with high absorptive capacity, which acts as a strategic buffer against institutional volatility. The findings underline the significance of host country economic policy uncertainty for MNEs' overseas operations and suggest ways for MNEs to navigate such uncertainty.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Management","volume":"32 2","pages":"Article 101341"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147452900","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"From pollution halo to haven: Two-sided environmental spillovers of foreign firms in China","authors":"Jinlei Yu ,&nbsp;Haotian Luo ,&nbsp;Anlan Lin ,&nbsp;Tong Mu","doi":"10.1016/j.intman.2026.101338","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intman.2026.101338","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study replicates and extends the analysis of Kim et al. (Journal of International Business Studies, 53(7): 1370–1393, 2022). <span><span>Kim et al. (2022)</span></span> provide evidence that the presence of foreign firms improves the environmental performance of nearby domestic firms, using data on industrial enterprises in Jiangsu, China from 2000 to 2007. This study examines whether this relationship holds over a longer period and across a broader geographic scope. We first replicate their analysis using the original data source, then extend it to a nationwide panel of industrial firms from 2000 to 2013. We find that the proximity of foreign firms improves local firms' environmental performance when foreign firm activity, measured by sales or numbers, is relatively low. However, beyond a certain threshold, some foreign firms appear to loosen environmental standards to gain competitive advantage, prompting imitation by local firms and leading to higher emissions. We also show that community-based and industry-based institutional channels significantly moderate these spillover effects. These findings contribute to the literature on the environmental impact of foreign direct investment and deepen understanding of the mechanisms underlying the environmental spillover effects of multinational enterprises.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Management","volume":"32 2","pages":"Article 101338"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147452902","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Government-firm vs. government-business connections and outward foreign direct investment in China","authors":"Jinhui Luo,&nbsp;Qiao Wei,&nbsp;Xuantong Yi","doi":"10.1016/j.intman.2026.101328","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intman.2026.101328","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We replicate the study by <span><span>Du and Luo (2016)</span></span> and reconsider the effect of political connections on outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) in recent China. <span><span>Du and Luo (2016)</span></span> suggest that the traditional mode of political connections (i.e., government-firm connections) could create resource and legitimacy advantages for the connected firms in the local market and so prevent these connected firms from engaging in OFDI overseas. Whereas, the new mode of political connections (i.e., government-business connections) emerged in China recently, and has changed the processes of resource allocation and legitimacy granting to a more equal and transparent way, thereby reshaping the connected firms' advantages as well as their OFDI decisions. Specifically, the new government-business connections would diminish the resource and legitimacy advantages of the connected firms in home country while strengthen their resource and legitimacy advantages in host countries, thus driving OFDI. Based on the two mechanisms, this driving force is more salient in non-labor-intensive firms and non-state-owned enterprises. We replicate the study by <span><span>Du and Luo (2016)</span></span> with (1) sample from the same dataset while in more recent years (2016–2022), (2) a comparison between the impact of two modes of political connections and (3) an illustration for the resource and legitimacy mechanisms.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Management","volume":"32 2","pages":"Article 101328"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147452912","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}