Antecedents of International and Domestic Learning Effort

Learning theory and an attention-based view of the firm are used to examine how an independent firm's degree of internationalization, age at first international entry, and entrepreneurial orientation are related to the attention it devotes to learning activities in international and domestic markets.It is hypothesized that a firm with a high degree of internationalization and entrepreneurial orientation will enjoy a greater international learning capacity.Factors that are expected to enhance domestic learning efforts include late international entry and entrepreneurial orientation.A high degree of internationalization and early international entry are expected to result in fewer domestic learning efforts. Data from a survey of 90 independent, owner-managed firms from a variety of industries in Belgium are used to test these hypotheses.The findings indicate that a firm with a high degree of internationalization is only marginally more likely to make more international learning efforts, and firms that enter the international market early and have an entrepreneurial orientation are more likely to make both international and domestic learning efforts.These findings suggest that firms would do well to adopt an entrepreneurial orientation and to enter foreign markets earlier rather than later. (SAA)