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Are international small business owners really that different?

Sarah Gundlach (Department of Management and Marketing, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia)
Andre Sammartino (Department of Management and Marketing, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia)

Cross Cultural & Strategic Management

ISSN: 2059-5794

Article publication date: 14 November 2019

Issue publication date: 18 February 2020

396

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of individual traits and attributes on the entrepreneurial and internationalization actions of Australian businesswomen, many of whom run small businesses.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is exploratory and quantitative, based on a questionnaire survey of 323 Australian businesswomen. Drawing upon the extant literature on internationalization, gender and entrepreneurship, the study explores two micro-foundational relationships of interest – personality and capability assessment differences between female business owners and their employed counterparts, and the impact of such traits and assessments on their internationalization. A further question is explored in terms of any differentials in perceptions of barriers in internationalization.

Findings

The findings show key personality dimensions do not differ dramatically between Australian businesswomen working in their own businesses (i.e. entrepreneurs) or as employees in organizations, while there are surprisingly few differences between women who are engaged internationally and those yet to do so. When comparing the female entrepreneurs and employees, in particular, the findings around tolerance for ambiguity and management efficacy are notably counterintuitive. This leads to the development of testable propositions to refine the causal claims in this domain.

Practical implications

The study calls into question the distinctiveness of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial endeavors, at least for female businesswomen.

Originality/value

By including entrepreneurs and employees, women who have engaged internationally and those that are yet to do so, the study avoids some of the potential self-selection and confirmation biases inherent in studies of only entrepreneurs or small business owners. The investigation of individual traits, attributes and experiences as micro-foundations for internationalization motivations challenges existing theories of small business expansion.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This paper forms part of a special section “Micro-foundations of small business internationalisation”.

Citation

Gundlach, S. and Sammartino, A. (2020), "Are international small business owners really that different?", Cross Cultural & Strategic Management, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 92-117. https://doi.org/10.1108/CCSM-08-2018-0130

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited

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