A culturally contingent view of the RBV in SMES internationalization
研究提出文化权变的资源基础观，分析国家文化如何影响中小企业评估资源禀赋并决定国际化，基于1060家来自4个发达和11个新兴经济体的中小企业数据，发现文化因素与资源作用交织，网络能力的作用比以往更微妙。
This study advances a culturally contingent approach to the resource-based view (RBV) by theorizing how national culture may affect the ways SMEs evaluate their resource endowments before deciding to internationalize. Comparing 1060 SMEs from 4 advanced and 11 emerging and developing economies, and accounting for the SME's national culture, our study departs from universalistic assumptions about the role of resources as a barrier to SME internationalization. SME internationalization research has often emphasized nations' economic status to explain why and when firms expand globally; we demonstrate that its effects are conflated with culture, obscuring critical dynamics in the process. Our findings extend RBV theory by introducing “ cultural resource valuation ” as a key mechanism, highlighting, for instance, a more nuanced role for networking capabilities in supporting the successful internationalization of SMEs than previously argued. We conclude that both managers and policymakers must recognize this cultural contingency, as Western-derived generalizations may misalign with domestic trade imperatives in diverse contexts. Doing so offers both theoretical nuance and practical guidance for SME internationalization.