Examining the Impact of Different Social Capital on Explorative Internationalization

Abstract

Firms can explore straetgic assets in the international markets. Social capital has been recognized as an important tool for firms to promote explorative internationalization. However, existing research do not uncover the fitness between social capital and explorative internationalization. Based on the data of international manufacturing firms, this paper explores the differential impact of business network capital, governmental network capital, knowledge network capital on explorative internationalization. The results show that business network capital and governmental network capital both have positive impact on explorative internationalization, but knowledge network capital has no significant positive impact on explorative internationalization. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.