IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/manint/v56y2016i5d10.1007_s11575-015-0269-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Learning from Others: the Impact of Vicarious Experience on the Psychic Distance and FDI Relationship

Author

Listed:
  • Alfredo Jiménez

    (Kedge Business School)

  • David Fuente

    (University of Burgos)

Abstract

This study analyzes the potential moderating effect of vicarious experience on the negative influence of psychic distance stimuli on foreign direct investment. Multinational enterprises can learn from the experience of other firms and benefit from higher opportunities to identify best practices and mistakes, acquire knowledge and develop capabilities, establish interactions and collaborations with suitable partners and gain legitimacy to overcome points of resistance. We analyze a sample of 164 Spanish multinational enterprises and show that a larger number of companies from the same home country in the host country positively moderate the negative influence of a greater psychic distance in the education, industrial development, democracy and social system stimuli. However, this moderating effect does not take place in the case of the language and religion stimuli, highlighting the importance of a fine-grain individual analysis of all distance dimensions, instead of relying on a single aggregated measure. Finally, our results show that total but also same- and different-sector vicarious experience exercise this moderating effect and that, contrary to previous empirical studies, no evidence of a substitution effect is found.

Suggested Citation

  • Alfredo Jiménez & David Fuente, 2016. "Learning from Others: the Impact of Vicarious Experience on the Psychic Distance and FDI Relationship," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 56(5), pages 633-664, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:manint:v:56:y:2016:i:5:d:10.1007_s11575-015-0269-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s11575-015-0269-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11575-015-0269-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11575-015-0269-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Srilata Zaheer & Margaret Spring Schomaker & Lilach Nachum, 2012. "Distance without direction: Restoring credibility to a much-loved construct," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 43(1), pages 18-27, January.
    2. Jiménez, Alfredo & Luis-Rico, Isabel & Benito-Osorio, Diana, 2014. "The influence of political risk on the scope of internationalization of regulated companies: Insights from a Spanish sample," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 301-311.
    3. Oded Shenkar, 2001. "Cultural Distance Revisited: Towards a More Rigorous Conceptualization and Measurement of Cultural Differences," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 32(3), pages 519-535, September.
    4. Katarina Blomkvist & Rian Drogendijk, 2013. "The Impact of Psychic Distance on Chinese Outward Foreign Direct Investments," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 53(5), pages 659-686, October.
    5. Will Mitchell & J. Myles Shaver & Bernard Yeung, 1994. "Foreign entrant survival and foreign market share: Canadian companies' experience in united states medical sector markets," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(7), pages 555-567, September.
    6. Paul Ingram & Joel A. C. Baum, 1997. "Opportunity And Constraint: Organizations’ Learning From The Operating And Competitive Experience Of Industries," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(S1), pages 75-98, July.
    7. Holtbrügge, Dirk & Berg, Nicola & Puck, Jonas F., 2007. "To bribe or to convince? Political stakeholders and political activities in German multinational corporations," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 47-67, February.
    8. Amol M Joshi & Nandini Lahiri, 2015. "Language friction and partner selection in cross-border R&D alliance formation," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 46(2), pages 123-152, February.
    9. Yamin, Mohammad & Sinkovics, Rudolf R., 2006. "Online internationalisation, psychic distance reduction and the virtuality trap," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 339-360, August.
    10. Peter Magnusson & Anja Schuster & Vas Taras, 2014. "A Process-Based Explanation of the Psychic Distance Paradox: Evidence from Global Virtual Teams," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 54(3), pages 283-306, June.
    11. Jiménez, Alfredo, 2010. "Does political risk affect the scope of the expansion abroad? Evidence from Spanish MNEs," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 619-633, December.
    12. Juan Alcácer & Wilbur Chung, 2007. "Location Strategies and Knowledge Spillovers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(5), pages 760-776, May.
    13. Goudarz Azar & Rian Drogendijk, 2014. "Psychic Distance, Innovation, and Firm Performance," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 54(5), pages 581-613, October.
    14. Ambos, Tina C. & Ambos, Björn, 2009. "The impact of distance on knowledge transfer effectiveness in multinational corporations," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, March.
    15. Disdier, Anne-Celia & Mayer, Thierry, 2004. "How different is Eastern Europe? Structure and determinants of location choices by French firms in Eastern and Western Europe," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 280-296, June.
    16. Jan Johanson & Jan-Erik Vahlne, 1977. "The Internationalization Process of the Firm—A Model of Knowledge Development and Increasing Foreign Market Commitments," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 8(1), pages 23-32, March.
    17. George P. Huber, 1991. "Organizational Learning: The Contributing Processes and the Literatures," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 88-115, February.
    18. Andreas Schwab, 2007. "Incremental Organizational Learning from Multilevel Information Sources: Evidence for Cross-Level Interactions," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(2), pages 233-251, April.
    19. Maurizio Zollo & Sidney G. Winter, 2002. "Deliberate Learning and the Evolution of Dynamic Capabilities," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 13(3), pages 339-351, June.
    20. Lilach Nachum & Srilata Zaheer & Shulamith Gross, 2008. "Does It Matter Where Countries Are? Proximity to Knowledge, Markets and Resources, and MNE Location Choices," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(7), pages 1252-1265, July.
    21. Jody Evans & Felix T Mavondo, 2002. "Psychic Distance and Organizational Performance: An Empirical Examination of International Retailing Operations," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 33(3), pages 515-532, September.
    22. Wilbur Chung & Juan Alcácer, 2002. "Knowledge Seeking and Location Choice of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(12), pages 1534-1554, December.
    23. King, Gary & Zeng, Langche, 2001. "Logistic Regression in Rare Events Data," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(2), pages 137-163, January.
    24. Björkman, Anette & Piekkari, Rebecca, 2009. "Language and foreign subsidiary control: An empirical test," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 105-117, March.
    25. Paul D Ellis, 2008. "Does psychic distance moderate the market size–entry sequence relationship?," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 39(3), pages 351-369, April.
    26. Jiang, Guoliang F. & Holburn, Guy L.F. & Beamish, Paul W., 2014. "The Impact of Vicarious Experience on Foreign Location Strategy," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 345-358.
    27. Arturs Kalnins & Anand Swaminathan & Will Mitchell, 2006. "Turnover Events, Vicarious Information, and the Reduced Likelihood of Outlet-Level Exit Among Small Multiunit Organizations," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(1), pages 118-131, February.
    28. Klaus E. Meyer & Hung Vo Nguyen, 2005. "Foreign Investment Strategies and Sub‐national Institutions in Emerging Markets: Evidence from Vietnam," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(1), pages 63-93, January.
    29. Håkanson, Lars & Ambos, Björn, 2010. "The antecedents of psychic distance," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 195-210, September.
    30. Jean‐Francois Hennart & Young‐Ryeol Park, 1994. "Location, governance, and strategic determinants of japanese manufacturing investment in the united states," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(6), pages 419-436, July.
    31. Claude Obadia, 2013. "Foreigness-induced Cognitive Disorientation," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 325-360, June.
    32. Bradley L Kirkman & Kevin B Lowe & Cristina B Gibson, 2006. "A quarter century of Culture's Consequences: a review of empirical research incorporating Hofstede's cultural values framework," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 37(3), pages 285-320, May.
    33. Dow, Douglas & Ferencikova, Sonia, 2010. "More than just national cultural distance: Testing new distance scales on FDI in Slovakia," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 46-58, February.
    34. Li, Jiatao & Yao, Fiona Kun, 2010. "The role of reference groups in international investment decisions by firms from emerging economies," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 143-153, June.
    35. Shawna O'Grady & Henry W Lane, 1996. "The Psychic Distance Paradox," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 27(2), pages 309-333, June.
    36. Geoffrey G. Bell, 2005. "Clusters, networks, and firm innovativeness," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 287-295, March.
    37. Julie Li, 2005. "The Formation of Managerial Networks of Foreign Firms in China: The Effects of Strategic Orientations," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 423-443, December.
    38. Manski, Charles F & Lerman, Steven R, 1977. "The Estimation of Choice Probabilities from Choice Based Samples," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 45(8), pages 1977-1988, November.
    39. Majocchi, Antonio & Presutti, Manuela, 2009. "Industrial clusters, entrepreneurial culture and the social environment: The effects on FDI distribution," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 76-88, February.
    40. Prime, Nathalie & Obadia, Claude & Vida, Irena, 2009. "Psychic distance in exporter-importer relationships: A grounded theory approach," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 184-198, April.
    41. Linda Argote & Sara L. Beckman & Dennis Epple, 1990. "The Persistence and Transfer of Learning in Industrial Settings," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(2), pages 140-154, February.
    42. Paul Ingram & Tal Simons, 2002. "The Transfer of Experience in Groups of Organizations: Implications for Performance and Competition," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(12), pages 1517-1533, December.
    43. Kunal Banerji & Rakesh B Sambharya, 1996. "Vertical Keiretsu and International Market Entry: The Case of the Japanese Automobile Ancillary Industry," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 27(1), pages 89-113, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shufeng Simon Xiao & Yong Kyu Lew & Byung Il Park, 2020. "International Network Searching, Learning, and Explorative Capability: Small and Medium-sized Enterprises from China," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 60(4), pages 597-621, August.
    2. Jiménez, Alfredo & Benito-Osorio, Diana & Puck, Jonas & Klopf, Patricia, 2018. "The multi-faceted role of experience dealing with policy risk: The impact of intensity and diversity of experiences," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 102-112.
    3. James, Barclay E. & Sawant, Rajeev J., 2019. "Norte o sul/sur? Multilatinas' choice of developed versus developing countries for foreign acquisitions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 235-244.
    4. Jeoung Yul Lee & Alfredo Jiménez & Timothy M. Devinney, 2020. "Learning in SME Internationalization: A New Perspective on Learning From Success versus Failure," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 60(4), pages 485-513, August.
    5. Álvaro Herrero & Alfredo Jiménez & Secil Bayraktar, 2019. "Hybrid Unsupervised Exploratory Plots: A Case Study of Analysing Foreign Direct Investment," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2019, pages 1-14, June.
    6. Jiménez, Alfredo & Jiang, Guoliang Frank & Petersen, Bent & Gammelgaard, Jens, 2019. "Within-country religious diversity and the performance of private participation infrastructure projects," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 13-25.
    7. Chupryhin, Radzivon, 2021. "Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment in Europe: Bayesian Model Averaging in the Presence of Weak Exogeneity," MPRA Paper 107197, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jiang, Guoliang F. & Holburn, Guy L.F. & Beamish, Paul W., 2014. "The Impact of Vicarious Experience on Foreign Location Strategy," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 345-358.
    2. Palmero, Alfredo Jiménez & Herrera, Juan José Durán & Sabaté, Juan Manuel de la Fuente, 2013. "The role of psychic distance stimuli on the East-West FDI location structure in the EU. Evidence from Spanish MNEs," Journal of East European Management Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 18(1), pages 36-65.
    3. Goudarz Azar & Rian Drogendijk, 2019. "Ex-post Performance Implications of Divergence of Managers’ Perceptions of ‘Distance’ From ‘Reality’ in International Business," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 67-92, February.
    4. Drogendijk, Rian & Martín Martín, Oscar, 2015. "Relevant dimensions and contextual weights of distance in international business decisions: Evidence from Spanish and Chinese outward FDI," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 133-147.
    5. Goudarz Azar & Rian Drogendijk, 2014. "Psychic Distance, Innovation, and Firm Performance," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 54(5), pages 581-613, October.
    6. Deligonul, Seyda Z., 2020. "Multinational country risk: Exposure to asset holding risk and operating risk in international business," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(2).
    7. de Jong, Gjalt & van Dut, Vo & Jindra, Björn & Marek, Philipp, 2015. "Does country context distance determine subsidiary decision-making autonomy? Theory and evidence from European transition economies," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 874-889.
    8. Magnani, Giovanna & Zucchella, Antonella & Floriani, Dinorá Eliete, 2018. "The logic behind foreign market selection: Objective distance dimensions vs. strategic objectives and psychic distance," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 1-20.
    9. Avloniti, Anthi & Filippaios, Fragkiskos, 2014. "Unbundling the differences between Psychic and Cultural Distance: An empirical examination of the existing measures," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 660-674.
    10. Håkanson, Lars & Ambos, Björn & Schuster, Anja & Leicht-Deobald, Ulrich, 2016. "The psychology of psychic distance: Antecedents of asymmetric perceptions," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 308-318.
    11. Wang, Qiu & Clegg, Jeremy & Mattos, Hanna Gajewska-De & Buckley, Peter J., 2023. "It’s personal: The emotional dimension of psychic distance perception in intercultural knowledge transfer," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(5).
    12. Pushyarag N. Puthusserry & John Child & Suzana B. Rodrigues, 2014. "Psychic Distance, its Business Impact and Modes of Coping: A Study of British and Indian Partner SMEs," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 1-29, February.
    13. Jiménez, Alfredo & Salvaj, Erica & Lee, Jeoung Yul, 2018. "Policy risk, distance, and private participation projects in Latin America," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 123-131.
    14. Del Bosco, Barbara & Cristina Bettinelli, 2020. "How Do Family SMEs Control Their Investments Abroad? The Role of Distance and Family Control," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 1-35, February.
    15. Isaac M Dinner & Tarun Kushwaha & Jan-Benedict E M Steenkamp, 2019. "Psychic distance and performance of MNCs during marketing crises," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(3), pages 339-364, April.
    16. Srivastava, Saurabh & Singh, Shiwangi & Dhir, Sanjay, 2020. "Culture and International business research: A review and research agenda," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(4).
    17. Weber, Clarissa E. & Chahabadi, Dominik & Maurer, Indre, 2020. "Antecedents and performance effect of managerial misperception of institutional differences," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(1).
    18. García-Muiña, Fernando E. & Romero-Martínez, Ana M. & Kabbara, Diala, 2020. "Does religion influence location choice in the hotel industry?," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(2).
    19. Cristina López-Duarte & Marta M. Vidal-Suárez & Belén González-Díaz & Nuno Rosa Reis, 2016. "Understanding the relevance of national culture in international business research: a quantitative analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 108(3), pages 1553-1590, September.
    20. Nielsen, Bo Bernhard & Asmussen, Christian Geisler & Weatherall, Cecilie Dohlmann, 2017. "The location choice of foreign direct investments: Empirical evidence and methodological challenges," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 62-82.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:manint:v:56:y:2016:i:5:d:10.1007_s11575-015-0269-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.