Exploring the individual and joint effects of founders' and managers' experiential knowledge on international opportunity identification

Abstract

This study aims to examine the individual and interactive effects of the founder’s prior experience and managers’ foreign market knowledge on international opportunity identification by early internationalizing firms (EIFs). We draw on a sample of 332 small and medium-sized EIFs from a South Asian country, viz. from the Bangladeshi apparel industry. This study adopts a survey-based quantitative research approach. A hierarchical regression modeling technique is used to test the contingency hypotheses. The results demonstrate that founding entrepreneurs’ prior experience and managers’ experiential knowledge are strong predictors of international opportunity identification. While we hypothesized for the joint negative effects of founders’ prior experience and managers’ market knowledge on opportunity identification, the results were non-significant, thus partially supporting the assumptions of agency theory. Our study provides valuable empirical insights into and supports the role of founders’ prior experience and managers’ foreign market knowledge in investigating international opportunity identification.