The impacts of entrepreneurship on export orientation and internationalisation: the moderating effects of family ownership and involvement

This study aims to explore the influence of entrepreneurship on a company's export orientation and the degree of internationalisation. The moderating effects of family ownership and the level of involvement are also evaluated. Export and internationalisation activities have become a prevalent, worldwide phenomenon, however, the influences of entrepreneurship on these activities have rarely been explored. This study integrates previous literature and those piecemeal study results into a more comprehensive framework. Two hundred Thai family business managers who intend to run their own businesses were sampled as the respondents of this study. The results indicate that entrepreneurship orientation, in terms of autonomy, innovativeness, risk taking, pro-activeness, and competitive aggressiveness, all have significant influence on export performance which further influence the level of internationalisation. Furthermore, the results also reveal that lower levels of power concentrated on single owner (not sure what is meant here) will serve as an important catalyst to facilitate export and internationalisation. Lower levels of family involvement can also facilitate export and internationalisation. Although entrepreneurship is a positive factor to facilitate export-orientated business performance in general, this study specifically indicates that Asian business, like that of Thailand, for example, would be more successful if internationalisation is facilitated without the family's interference while decentralising their business decision-making structure.