Journal of World Business
Volume 50, Issue 4, 2015, Pages 804-814

Internationalization of immigrant-owned SMEs: The role of language (Article)

Sui S. , Morgan H.M. , Baum M.*
  • a Global Management Studies Department, Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, Canada
  • b Global Management Studies Department, Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, Canada
  • c Faculty of Business Studies and Economics, University of Kaiserslautern, Gottlieb-Daimler Str. 42, Kaiserslautern, 67653, Germany

Abstract

Immigrant entrepreneurs have become increasingly important to economic development, and there is substantial debate regarding their enhanced potential to expand their activities across national borders. However, research regarding how immigrant-owned small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) engage in internationalization and how entrepreneurs' native languages might influence such processes remains in its infancy. Drawing on a sample of 3077 Canadian SMEs, we evaluated the impact of immigrant ownership and the moderating role of native language on companies' decisions to export to global markets and to the English-speaking regional market. Immigrant ownership generally fostered a global orientation, particularly for French and Allophone owners. © 2015.

Author Keywords

Internationalization immigrants language International trade Small and medium-sized enterprises Liability of outsidership

Index Keywords

[No Keywords available]
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84941735597&doi=10.1016%2fj.jwb.2015.04.002&partnerID=40&md5=d1cd2cae5c50ef85f4569b61a5ad1293
DOI: 10.1016/j.jwb.2015.04.002
ISSN: 10909516
Cited by: 14
Original Language: English