Internationalization Intentions in Domestic New Technology-Based Firms: A Comparison Between Immigrant and Non-immigrant Entrepreneurs

Several studies have shown that immigrant entrepreneurs have a greater likelihood than native entrepreneurs of internationalizing their business. However, to date, we have only limited knowledge about whether and how domestic immigrant and native entrepreneurs differ with regard to the decision-making processes that are antecedent to internationalization behaviors. This chapter sheds light on this issue and focuses on the cognitive determinants of entrepreneurs’ intentions to internationalize. Theoretically building on intention models of entrepreneurial behavior, this work compares whether immigrant and non-immigrant entrepreneurs present heterogeneous perceptions of the feasibility and the desirability of internationalization opportunities. Comparative analyses are conducted on unique primary data that were collected from a matched-pair sample of 140 domestic foreign-born and native entrepreneurs who are active in new technology-based firms in Italy. The results show that the two groups of entrepreneurs do not differ with regard to the perceived desirability of internationalization; however, they do differ in terms of perceived feasibility. In particular, whereas the foreign-born entrepreneurs demonstrate a stronger individual-level perceived feasibility towards internationalization, they also show significantly lower perceived external support than the native entrepreneurs. The implications of these findings for research and policy are discussed.