IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/applec/v57y2025i17p2124-2143.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Overseas background of executive and enterprises’ outward foreign direct investment: multi-level moderating model and heterogeneity research

Author

Listed:
  • Chen Yan
  • Yuanzhe Huang
  • Qian Dai
  • Dameng Hu
  • Jinsong Ye

Abstract

With the increasing uncertainty in trade, investment, and geopolitical aspects, considerable attention is paid to whether and how executives’ overseas backgrounds affect enterprises’ outward foreign direct investment (OFDI). This article is based on the data of Chinese listed companies from 2000 to 2020, and empirical analysis reveals that executive overseas background positively impacts enterprises’ OFDI. Analysis of the moderating effect shows that the executive pay gap and corporate cultural diversity play an inverted U-shape moderating role in the influence of executive overseas background on OFDI. The industrial agglomeration level positively moderates the influence of executive overseas background on OFDI. Mechanism analysis shows that the overseas background of executives can play a role through innovation-driven, digital transformation and utilizing the location advantage of the host country. The results also show that the effect of executives’ overseas backgrounds is significantly affected by the heterogeneity of OFDI and the heterogeneity of executives’ overseas backgrounds. The conclusion of this study substantiates the pivotal role of executives’ overseas backgrounds in propelling the OFDI activities of Chinese enterprises. It also provides empirical support for the policy of talent introduction and opening-up.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen Yan & Yuanzhe Huang & Qian Dai & Dameng Hu & Jinsong Ye, 2025. "Overseas background of executive and enterprises’ outward foreign direct investment: multi-level moderating model and heterogeneity research," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(17), pages 2124-2143, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:57:y:2025:i:17:p:2124-2143
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2024.2322579
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00036846.2024.2322579
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00036846.2024.2322579?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.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:taf:applec:v:57:y:2025:i:17:p:2124-2143. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RAEC20 .

    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.