Home-market economic development as a moderator of the self-selection and learning-by-exporting effects

Ferran Vendrell-Herrero (), Christian K. Darko (), Emanuel Gomes () and David W. Lehman ()
Additional contact information
Ferran Vendrell-Herrero: University of Birmingham
Christian K. Darko: University of Birmingham
Emanuel Gomes: Universidade Nova
David W. Lehman: University of Virginia

Journal of International Business Studies, 2022, vol. 53, issue 7, No 10, 1519-1535

Abstract: Abstract Prior research suggests that firm productivity and export activity are mutually reinforcing. Highly productive firms are more likely to enter the export market (i.e., self-selection), and upon doing so, achieve greater productivity levels over time (i.e., learning-by-exporting). We consider how a critical yet unexamined, factor impacts this relationship: the economic development of a firm’s home market. Drawing on institution-based theories, we hypothesize that self-selection effects will be strongest among firms in more developed economies. Drawing on knowledge-based theories, we hypothesize that learning-by-exporting effects will be strongest among firms in less developed economies. Taken together, we posit that firm productivity and export activity indeed reinforce one another; however, the strength of each direction of the relationship will be amplified, at least in part, by the presence of the opposite home-market economic conditions. Analysis of longitudinal data from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys composed of responses from 3431 manufacturing firms across 63 countries from 2006 to 2017 supports the proposed hypotheses.

Keywords: firm internationalization; learning-by-exporting; self-selection; home-market economic development; total factor productivity; World Bank Enterprise Surveys (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41267-021-00481-8 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:jintbs:v:53:y:2022:i:7:d:10.1057_s41267-021-00481-8

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... nt/journal/41267/PS2

DOI: 10.1057/s41267-021-00481-8

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of International Business Studies is currently edited by John Cantwell

More articles in Journal of International Business Studies from Palgrave Macmillan, Academy of International Business
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().