Larger, more internationalized, better behaved? A configurational study of em erging market multinational enterprises' involvement in corporate wrongdoing

We study emerging market multinational enterprises' (EMNEs) involvement in corporate wrongdoing, focusing on multiple explanatory antecedents identified by the literature, yet not explored from a configurational perspective. We use fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to examine firms from eight emerging markets between 2003 and 2012. We uncover three equifinal configurations of corporate wrongdoing, all involving highly internationalized EMNEs: (1) the struggling state owned EMNE – a large, old, underperforming SOE, operating in home and host markets with high quality institutions; (2) the striving EMNE - a young, small, high performing EMNE, operating in home and host markets with low quality institutions; (3) and the careless state owned EMNE - an old, large, high performing SOE, operating in home and host markets with low quality institutions. Our findings enrich existing and often conflicting theoretical explanations through a configurational perspective, shedding light on the causal conjunctions between EMNEs' internationalization, home and host markets institutions, and the other antecedents of wrongdoing identified by the literature. We contribute to the EMNEs literature by studying the antecedents of involvement in wrongdoing, which can potentially threaten their efforts to overcome the liability of origin and acquire legitimacy with international stakeholders.