Managers and internationalization decisions: An affect‐enacted model

Abstract

Research Summary: This paper identifies a critical gap in foundational assumptions between traditional International Business (IB) theories (e.g., internalization theory and Uppsala model) and empirical individual‐level research. Traditional theories, rooted in assumptions of bounded rationality, tend to overlook the influence of affective cognition in shaping managerial decisions. In contrast, our systematic review of individual‐level IB research reveals that empirical studies recognize the influence of affective cognition in decision‐making but have only extended mainstream theories in fragmented ways, leaving room for a comprehensive theoretical revision. We propose an affect‐enacted model of internationalization decision‐making, showing how affective cognition critically shapes IB decisions. Our findings have important implications for IB theorization, advocating for the integration of both affective and non‐affective cognition into a unified framework. Managerial Summary: Managers assess risks as part of their decision‐making process for firm internationalization. Traditional theories suggest that managers, as boundedly rational actors, are imperfect agents influenced primarily by analytical considerations. However, our systematic review of over two decades of empirical research reveals instead that managers are complex agents that rely on both affective and non‐affective processes to inform their judgments. We present an affect‐enacted model of internationalization decisions, showing how these processes combine to shape knowledge, experience, attitudes, and risk evaluations, ultimately guiding their internationalization decisions. Contrary to the traditional view, our findings suggest that internationalization decisions are deeply influenced by affective cognition reflecting a complex interplay of intra‐ and interpersonal dynamics.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/gsj.1516
Divisions: College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School > Economics, Finance & Entrepreneurship
College of Business and Social Sciences
College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School
Aston University (General)
Additional Information: Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Global Strategy Journal published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Strategic Management Society. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Uncontrolled Keywords: affect‐enacted model,bounded rationality,affective cognition,decision‐making,internationalization decision
Publication ISSN: 2042-5791
Last Modified: 28 Mar 2025 08:11
Date Deposited: 20 Dec 2024 15:04
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: https://onlinel ... 0.1002/gsj.1516 (Publisher URL)
http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2024-12-19
Published Online Date: 2024-12-19
Accepted Date: 2024-11-11
Authors: Grego, Marica
Buckley, Peter J.
Munjal, Surender (ORCID Profile 0000-0002-8713-687X)
Voss, Hinrich
Wang, Elizabeth Yi

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