Active internationalization of software enterprises: Scale development and validation

Abstract

A 34-item scale was developed to measure the attributes that contribute to success in the active internationalization processes of small and medium enterprises of software. Data from 103 companies was analysed. The scale was developed and available online in 4 languages. Based on established scale development procedures, such as exploratory and confirmatory factorial analysis, a final version of the research scale was proposed, composed by 15 items grouped in 4 dimensions. Innovation, entrepreneurship, network, and foreign market knowledge appear to be important factors for the success in the active internationalization processes of small and medium enterprise of software. Reliability and validity measures were calculated in order to check the adequacy of the proposed model. Concluding remarks discuss theoretical and managerial implications with limitations and directions for future research.