Cultivating entrepreneurial human capital in multinational corporations: An intercultural paradox mindset lens

Robert J. Pidduck, Daniel R. Clark and Zhang, Yejun (John)

Journal of World Business, 2024, vol. 59, issue 5

Abstract: The development of an entrepreneurial strategic orientation is of growing concern for global corporations. Through a human capital lens, we probe how and when firms can develop and cultivate managerial entrepreneurial resources; by explicitly encouraging cross-cultural experiences that stimulate systematic shifts in mindset and behavior. Drawing on paradox theory and intercultural psychology, we put forth a model positing that cross-cultural experience (an endowment firms can either hire for or facilitate themselves) develops managerial entrepreneurialism—consisting of (a) venture ideation, (b) opportunity recognition, and (c) entrepreneurial behavior—through the intervening mechanism of a paradox mindset. As a boundary condition we uncover that paradox mindset formation partially hinges on home cultural tightness-looseness. We employ three distinct experiments on multinational samples of individual professionals (n = 506), active entrepreneurs (n = 370), and current managers in global firms (n = 288) to test our theorizing. Finding general support for our model, with analyses yielding important theoretical and practical implications from non-findings too, we conclude that a paradox mindset is a necessary, but not de facto, mediating step between cross-cultural experience and the cultivation of entrepreneurial managers. We also find that paradox mindset formation is conditional and related to home cultural tightness-looseness.

Keywords: Paradox mindset; Multinational firms; Entrepreneurial employees; Experimental design; Cultural tightness-looseness; Cross-cultural experience (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.jwb.2024.101554

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