DOES BOARD USAGE OF KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS AFFECT INTERNATIONALIZATION PERFORMANCE OF SMES? A CASE OF LITHUANIA

Internationalization of SMEs is encouraged by the advantages of new environmental conditions and appealing business opportunities, but remains a challenging process. Top management teams and more specifically board of directors appear to be a critical determinant in addressing internationalization issues. In recent years, investigation of boards in small firms’ context has been an interest of scholars, however few investigated characteristics of human capital. This study aims to investigate whether board usage of knowledge and skills is a mediator linking characteristics of human capital of board and internationalization performance of SMEs in Lithuania. The results revealed that usage of knowledge and skills mediates the relationships between international business skills and internationalization performance. Obtained results contribute to international entrepreneurship and upper-echelons theories by highlighting the role of the board in SMEs and linking it to higher internationalization performance through their usage of knowledge and skills. This study fills the research gap and extends the extant studies in internationalization of SMEs. First, the study responds to the need to investigate how board’s capital affect internationalization. Secondly, the study responds to the need to go beyond input-output models.

Application of Entrepreneurial Intention Model in Comparative International Entrepreneurship Research: A Cross-Cultural Study of India and Saudi Arabia

The development of entrepreneurial activities helps in realization of multiple goals of sustainable development. This study aims to inspect the applicability of the entrepreneurial intention model (EIM) to explain entrepreneurial intention in different cultural contexts. A survey was conducted using the Entrepreneurial Intention Questionnaire. Based on 535 valid responses received from business students in India (N = 285) and Saudi Arabia (N = 250), the model was analyzed using the partial least square regression method. The results show that the EIM is validated for the combined sample (R2combined = 0.522) as well as for the individual samples (R2India = 0.644; R2Saudi = 0.412). Demographic variables and human capital variables were found to impact the entrepreneurial intention differently in the combined sample and the individual samples of the two countries. Multigroup analysis was performed to test if the country variable influences the hypothesized paths in the model. The results of the multigroup analysis show that many of the hypothesized relationships (gender-personal attitude; gender-subjective norm; gender-perceived behavioral control, role model-subjective norm, role model-perceived behavioral control, subjective norm-personal attitude, and subjective norm-entrepreneurial intention) are significantly different in the two countries. This study addresses the gap in comparative international entrepreneurship (CIE) research by testing the applicability of EIM in two different cultures. The findings are also significant for policymakers at both national and international levels for facilitating entrepreneurship.