THE INFLUENCE OF ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION ON SMEs' DEGREE OF INTERNATIONALIZATION: THE MODERATING ROLE OF GOVERNMENT SUPPORT AND DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Abstract

The internationalization of small and medium enterprises has become an urgent direction of development today. Internationalization is an entrepreneurial act of identifying and exploiting international opportunities. As markets have increasingly globalized, entrepreneurial orientation has gained momentum in international entrepreneurship. While entrepreneurial orientation is extensively studied for its role in cross-border entry for large multinational corporations, little research has examined its use in international performance for small and medium enterprises. This dissertation investigates the influence of entrepreneurial orientation on small and medium enterprises' degree of internationalization, the mediating effect of networking capability, and the moderating role of government support and digital transformation. This dissertation draws on the dynamic capabilities theory to examine the influence of these factors on degree of internationalization. A company's capabilities are the configurations of routines and resources that allow it to have competitive advantage. A questionnaire survey was used to collect the data for this dissertation from 296 Saudi small and medium enterprises. The results shown a significant relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and small and medium enterprises' degree of internationalization. The results also found that networking capability mediates entrepreneurial orientation and small and medium enterprises' degree of internationalization. Finally, the results also show that government support and digital transformation moderate the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and degree of internationalization. This dissertation contributes to the literature on international entrepreneurship by identifying new empirical indication. Moreover, it contributes to executive practices by showing the significance of translating entrepreneurial orientation practices into internationalization outcomes through networking capability.