Palgrave Macmillan Journals
Palgrave Macmillan Journals
Palgrave Macmillan Journals
Author(s): Kate Gillespie, Liesl Riddle, Edward Sayre and David Sturges
Source: Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 30, No. 3 (3rd Qtr., 1999), pp. 623-634
Published by: Palgrave Macmillan Journals
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/155469 .
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KateGillespie*
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
Liesl Riddle**
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
EdwardSayre***
KENYON COLLEGE
DavidSturges****
THE UNIVERSITY
OFTEXAS-PAN AMERICAN
M ost less developed countries cur- suggest that foreign direct investment
rently welcome or even encourage (FDI) is affected positively by domestic
foreign investment. In fact, they often market size [Davidson 1980; Dunning
find themselves in competition for such 1973; Nigh 1985; Scaperlanda and
investment. Various empirical studies Mauer 1969; Terpstra and Yu 1988],
JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS STUDIES, 30, 3 (THIRD QUARTER 1999): 623-634. 623
TABLE 1
DESCRIPTIVESTATISTICSFOR THE FOUR SAMPLES*
Armenian
(n=166) Cuban (n= 111) Iranian (n= 78) Palestinian
(n= 40)
Variable CurrentPotentialCurrentPotentialCurrentPotentialCurrentPotential
InterestforSale 3% 34% 9% 42% 21% 45% 14% 52%
in Homeland
InterestforExport 6% 41% 8% 41% 20% 46% 14% 55%
ServicesInterest 8% 36% 15% 57% 16% 38% 21% 44%
EthnicAdvantage 2.75 (0.93) 3.29 (1.05) 3.58 (0.80) 3.63 (0.93)
Altruism 3.76 (1.04) 2.43 (1.69) 3.69 (1.09) 4.08 (1.04)
Speak 50% 97% 99% 98%
Read 21% 87% 81% 70%
Visits 7% 7% 50% 41%
Relatives 15% 59% 96% 67%
BusinessImpediments 2.17 (0.41) 2.70 (0.31) 2.22 0.35) 2.11 (0.37)
College 60% 70% 90% 81%
Age 58.2 (15.4) 49.8 (11.4) 45.4 (11.1) 53.4 (11.4)
Self-employment 21% 52% 59% 61%
FirstGeneration 32% 92% 100% 93%
SecondGeneration 54% 8% 0% 7%
Income $30,000$39,000 $100,000+ $100,000+ $100,000+
Female 28% 21% 21% 8%
*Incells withtwo values,the firstis the meanandthe valuein parenthesesis the standarddeviation.See foot-
notes in Table2 (Variablesand Measures)for scale explanations.The incomemeasurewas categoricalwith
multipleresponsechoices;therefore,the mode,a bettermeasureof centraltendency,is reported.
TABLE2
a
ANDMEASURES
VARIABLES
Index Alphas | Measures
Ethnic .748,.784,.800,.812 I believe I have a competitive advantage in
Advantage doing business in (the homeland) because I
share the same ethnic backgroundas the people
in (the homeland).
I have much in common with people in (the
homeland).
I believe that doing business in (the homeland)
is less risky for me because I share the same eth-
nic backgroundas the people in (the homeland).
I understand consumer preferences in (the
homeland) better than the average American
businessperson because I share the same ethnic
backgroundas the people in (the homeland).
I believe I understand how to do business in
(the homeland) better than the average
American businessperson.
homeland orientation: (1) homeland guage, and (3) whether or not the
visitation, (2) whether the respondent respondent kept in contact with rela-
read periodicals in the homeland lan- tives in the homeland. Since virtually
TABLE3
ORDEREDPROBITRESULTS
DEPENDENT IN DIRECrINvEsTmEw IN rim HoMELAND
VARIABLE:INTEREST
Armenian(n=173) Cuban(n=112) Iranian(n=82) Palestinian(n=44)
ETHNAD 0.218** 0.553*** 0.488** 0.456**
(0.104) (0.130) (0.185) (0.280)
ALTRUISM 0.189** 0.148** 0.389*** 0.654**
(0.099) (0.077) (0.141) (0.292)
READ -0.234 0.188 -0.270 1.894***
(0.274) (0.366) (0.351) (0.712)
NUMVIS 0.457** 0.449* 0.034 0.189
(0.199) (0.311) (0.123) (0.201)
RELATIVE -0.010 -0.473** 0.253 -0.416
(0.261) (0.248) (0.734) (0.585)
BUSIMP -0.035 -0.166 0.090 -0.512
(0.236) (0.404) (0.394) (0.609)
COLLEGE -0.197 -0.077 0.413 -0.908
(0.194) (0.266) (0.462) (0.735)
AGE -0.009* -0.008 -0.017 -0.026
(0.006) (0.011) (0.012) (0.021)
SELFEM 0.466** -0.173 -0.105 -0.128
(0.224) (0.245) (0.283) (0.450)
GENER 0.189 -0.498 NAt 0.195
(0.244) (0.523) (1.029)
Log Likelihood -149.31 - 83.650 - 75.991 -29.237
Chi2 27.86 36.45 22.99 33.92
Prob > Chi2 0.0019 0.0001 0.0062 0.0002
Pseudo R2 0.0853 0.1789 0.1314 0.3672
*p < .1, **p < .05, ***p < .01
tNot applicable because this sample contains only first generation
all respondents in the Cuban, Iranian, contact and zero is s/he does not.
and Palestinian samples spoke the Education was measured by employing a
homeland language, we did not include dummy variable (COLLEGE),assuming a
this as a measure. value of one if the respondent completed
Respondents were asked how many college and zero if not.2
times they had traveled to their respec- Our ordered probit model for each
tive homelands in the past five years, and community is: INVINT=f(ETHNAD,
this measure (NUMVIS)was used to test ALTRUISM, READ, NUMVIS, RELA-
the homeland visitation hypothesis. The TIVE, READ, BUSIMP, COLLEGE,
effect of reading periodicals in the home- AGE,SELFEM, GENER.) Table 3 pre-
land language and keeping in contact sents the regression results for the
with relatives in the homeland were mea- Armenian, Cuban, Iranian and Pales-
sured by employing a dummy variable tinian samples.3
(READ)and (RELATIVE), taking a value We found consistent support across
of one if the respondent reads/keeps in all four communities for the hypotheses
that altruism and perceptions of ethnic that they are culturally closer to a cer-
advantage have a positive effect on tain foreign market are more likely to be
interest in homeland investment. As interested in investing in that market.
hypothesized, generation and estima- (Our findings caution, however, that as
tion of business impediments proved to individuals within diasporas vary on
be insignificant in determining interest their perceptions of ethnic advantage,
in homeland investment. The findings managers from the same country may
for homeland orientation were mixed. vary on their perceptions of psychic
Little support for the homeland orienta- proximity as relates to a particular for-
tion hypothesis was found across its eign market.)
three measures, and what support Other similarities across communities
emerged varied widely among the four relate to altruism and estimation of
communities. Age and self-employ- business impediments. Our measure of
ment were only significant for Armenia. altruism proved significant, supporting
Education proved insignificant across qualitative findings from our own pre-
communities (see Table 3). liminary research as well as those of
Aharoni [1966]. Similarly, perceptions
CONCLUSIONSAND LIMITATIONS of business impediments do not appear
The examination of homeland invest- to affect investment interest. These two
ment expands on the current discussion findings are potentially good news for
in the international business literature homelands-whether re-emerging or
concerning the definition and opera- repositioning states-that might be con-
tionalization of FDI in current and sidered generally unattractive and risky
future research [Brewer 1993; investment environments.
Aswicahyone and Hill 1995; Hennart While behavioral measures and
1989]. As international migration and demographic variables were significant
market liberalization expand globally, in some cases, these were not consistent
homeland investment by diaspora busi- across communities. The lack of posi-
nesses and entrepreneurs may well tive findings relating to self-employ-
become an increasingly significant cate- ment except in one case supports
gory of foreign investment. In light of descriptive evidence that homeland
this, our study suggests that both simi- investment is not only of interest to the
larities and possible differences exist self-employed or current entrepreneurs
among diaspora communities as regards but also to potential entrepreneurs as
interest in homeland investment. well. Also, the insignificance of genera-
Across all four surveyed diasporas, tion was as expected. However, it
members who perceive they have an should be noted that the Iranian sample
ethnic advantage in the homeland mar- contained only first-generation respon-
ket are more likely to be interested in dents, and the number of second-gener-
investing there than diaspora members ation respondents was low for Cuba and
that do not perceive this advantage. At Palestine. For Armenia, there were ade-
a broader level, our findings concerning quate numbers for both first and second
ethnic advantage suggest individual- generation. Also, this community is dif-
level support of the assumption behind ferent in that only two percent of first-
the observed psychic-distance phenom- generation respondents for this group
enon: Decision makers who perceive emigrated directly from Armenia,
unlike first generations of the other al investors would lend insight into the
communities who nearly all arrived evolution of the homeland investment
from their homelands. process. For example, do perceptions of
It is important that we acknowledge ethnic advantage and altrusim affect
other limitations of the study. First, actual investment as they do investment
there are limitations encompassing interest? Future research could also
issues of sample errorand generalizabil- attempt to examine the homeland
ity. We were unable to use sampling investment decision-making process
frames consistent across four relatively from the points of view of current entre-
rare and geographically diverse commu- preneurs versus potential entrepre-
nities. While this does not invalidate neurs. The role of diaspora members
similarities identified across these com- within multi-ethnic firms could be
munities, it may explain differences explored. Do they influence FDI deci-
among them. Also, we surveyed dias- sions related to their homeland within
poras resident in the United States. such firms? If so, how? Such research
Thus, we may not be able to extrapolate would contribute to our understanding
to similar communities resident in other of international entrepreneurship,
countries. Our sampling frames were migration's impact on global business,
taken from community lists that com- and the individual's role in the deci-
prised individuals whose ethnic identi- sion-making processes of the multina-
ty was fairly salient [Laserwitz 1986]. tional firm.
This possible high level of ethnic iden-
tity in the sampling frames might affect NOTES
the overall level of respondent interest 1. Measures for altruism relating to
in homeland investment. (However, the homeland were not available in the
since homeland governments can most extant literature. We employed four
easily contact their diasporas via com- measures in our survey and examined
munity lists, an understanding of these them in exploratory runs. Three of
segments alone can be useful to them.) these were based on statements arising
The study is also limited in that it from our preliminary interviews, and
attempts to measure investment interest the fourth was based on reported dona-
rather than actual investment. While tions to diaspora or homeland charities.
examining investment interest is a logi- Estimated coefficients for the combina-
cal place to begin our understanding of tions of these measures were not statis-
the homeland investment phenomenon, tically significant. The single measure
it was further necessitated by the fact that proved the most consistently signif-
that current actual homeland invest- icant and interesting across various iter-
ment by the surveyed diasporas remains ations was the one we subsequently
low. While interest precedes invest- employed in our model.
ment, behavior evolves through the for- 2. In addition to the variables
eign investment process. This should described, we controlled for income and
be kept in mind when comparing this gender.
study to others that measure actual 3. For reasons of brevity, we have
investment. presented a single base model for each
Future research concerning the con- community. Variations on each base
cepts developed here but aimed at actu- model were run to establish that the
results presented were not mere statisti- Bozorgmehr, Mehdi. 1995. Diaspora in
cal artifice and were acceptably insensi- post revolutionary period. Encyclo-
tive to model specification. Also, one pedia Iranica.
might be concerned that the reason why Brewer, Thomas. 1993. Government
some of the measures are not significant policies, market imperfections, and
in the ordered probit results is related to foreign direct investment. Journal of
collinearity of the regressors. For the International Business Studies, 24(1):
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(Palestinian). Since all of these values variables for internationalization
are less than 20, this implies that multi- stages. In R. Czinkota & G. Tesar, edi-
collinearity is not a serious problem tors, Export management: An inter-
[Belsley, Kuh and Welsh 1980]. national context. New York: Praeger:
276-85.
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