Autor(es): Mendes, Telma ; González-Loureiro, Miguel ; Braga, Vítor ; Silva, Carina
Data: 2023
Identificador Persistente: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/24273
Origem: Repositório Científico do Instituto Politécnico do Porto
Assunto(s): managerial cognition; microfoundations; international exploration; international exploitation; Industry 4.0; earliness of internationalization
The international exploration-exploitation dichotomy is used in this study to expand on the resource-based view (RBV) and gain a deeper understanding of how these two distinct capabilities affect the adoption of I4.0 in small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). We investigate managers' cognitive systems as a crucial microfoundation for the international organizational ambidexterity (i.e., exploration-exploitation), given that both managerial cognition and microfoundations perspective are underdeveloped and undertheorized. The study shows that managerial cognition is a crucial microfoundation of international organizational ambidexterity in the context of I4.0 adoption by using structural equation modeling on a sample of 116 Portuguese international SMEs. The findings also reveal neither international exploration nor exploitation has succeeded in creating new opportunities for the application of a technology-based model in SMEs internationalizing earlier. However, a post-hoc analysis revealed that under early internationalization, less (more) experienced SMEs benefit from international exploration (exploitation) to implement I4.0 technologies. This study concludes with implications and future research avenues.
