Xie Zaiyang, Lin Runhui, Wang Jie, Hu Weiwei, Miao Ling
China Academy of Corporate Governance, Nankai University, Tianjin, China.
Business School, Nankai University, Tianjin, China.
Front Psychol. 2020 Apr 21;11:689. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00689. eCollection 2020.
Applying the lens of entrepreneurial psychology, this paper examines vicarious learning as an approach that entrepreneurs can use to overcome external uncertainty of overseas investments by accumulating international know-how and experience through interlocking director connections with other experienced companies. Through the analysis of a sample of Chinese companies, our findings suggest that entrepreneurs obtaining foreign experience from interlocking partners can significantly promote their firm's international growth when investing in the same country, and that this positive effect is significant in relation to both first-degree and second-degree connections. We further find that, if an entrepreneur makes a connection with an interlocking partner in the same industry, it enhances their knowledge absorption, thereby providing a positive moderating effect, while investing in a country with a strong degree of openness weakens the effect of knowledge application, and thus plays a negative moderating role. This study makes practical and theoretical contributions by exploring specific vicarious learning means for entrepreneurs to enhance their firm's international competitiveness, and also identifying three different learning processes.
运用创业心理学的视角，本文考察了替代学习这一方法，即企业家可通过与其他经验丰富的公司建立连锁董事关系来积累国际知识和经验，从而利用该方法克服海外投资的外部不确定性。通过对中国公司样本的分析，我们的研究结果表明，从连锁伙伴那里获得国外经验的企业家在投资同一国家时，能够显著促进其公司的国际增长，并且这种积极影响在一级和二级关系中均很显著。我们进一步发现，如果企业家与同一行业的连锁伙伴建立联系，会增强他们的知识吸收能力，从而产生积极的调节作用，而在开放程度较高的国家进行投资会削弱知识应用的效果，从而起到消极的调节作用。本研究通过探索企业家增强其公司国际竞争力的具体替代学习方式，并识别三种不同的学习过程，做出了实践和理论贡献。
