The influence of cultural friction on foreign divestment of multinational enterprises--the moderating role of formal institutional distance and political connections.

Multinational enterprises frequently divest their foreign assets in the current economic environment. Existing research, based on friction theory, has mainly focused on the impacts of political and economic disparities on foreign divestment while neglecting the nuanced influence of cultural factors....

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Main Authors: Zijing Xu, Ming Tian, Yang Zhang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2024-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0295443&type=printable
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author Zijing Xu
Ming Tian
Yang Zhang
author_facet Zijing Xu
Ming Tian
Yang Zhang
author_sort Zijing Xu
collection DOAJ
description Multinational enterprises frequently divest their foreign assets in the current economic environment. Existing research, based on friction theory, has mainly focused on the impacts of political and economic disparities on foreign divestment while neglecting the nuanced influence of cultural factors. To address this gap, this paper draws on the cultural friction perspective to capture the diverse cultural resistance faced by each enterprise and explore the relationship between cultural friction and foreign divestment. Data from Chinese publicly listed enterprises engaged in foreign investment are leveraged, and a dual-level analysis is conducted using Logit panel regression and Cox survival analysis to examine the relationship between cultural friction and foreign divestment from both the viewpoints of the parent company and the overseas subsidiary. Additionally, the paper examines the marginal factors that affect the relationship between them from an institutional perspective. The findings reveal that cultural friction has a positive influence on the propensity of multinational enterprises to divest from foreign markets. Interestingly, a "formal institutional distance paradox" is demonstrated in our study, and politically connected enterprises are found to be more vulnerable to foreign divestment due to the "curse of political affiliations".
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spelling doaj.art-7eb06eca175241f5a1d3467406db8fdd2024-03-11T05:32:26ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032024-01-01192e029544310.1371/journal.pone.0295443The influence of cultural friction on foreign divestment of multinational enterprises--the moderating role of formal institutional distance and political connections.Zijing XuMing TianYang ZhangMultinational enterprises frequently divest their foreign assets in the current economic environment. Existing research, based on friction theory, has mainly focused on the impacts of political and economic disparities on foreign divestment while neglecting the nuanced influence of cultural factors. To address this gap, this paper draws on the cultural friction perspective to capture the diverse cultural resistance faced by each enterprise and explore the relationship between cultural friction and foreign divestment. Data from Chinese publicly listed enterprises engaged in foreign investment are leveraged, and a dual-level analysis is conducted using Logit panel regression and Cox survival analysis to examine the relationship between cultural friction and foreign divestment from both the viewpoints of the parent company and the overseas subsidiary. Additionally, the paper examines the marginal factors that affect the relationship between them from an institutional perspective. The findings reveal that cultural friction has a positive influence on the propensity of multinational enterprises to divest from foreign markets. Interestingly, a "formal institutional distance paradox" is demonstrated in our study, and politically connected enterprises are found to be more vulnerable to foreign divestment due to the "curse of political affiliations".https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0295443&type=printable
spellingShingle Zijing Xu
Ming Tian
Yang Zhang
The influence of cultural friction on foreign divestment of multinational enterprises--the moderating role of formal institutional distance and political connections.
PLoS ONE
title The influence of cultural friction on foreign divestment of multinational enterprises--the moderating role of formal institutional distance and political connections.
title_full The influence of cultural friction on foreign divestment of multinational enterprises--the moderating role of formal institutional distance and political connections.
title_fullStr The influence of cultural friction on foreign divestment of multinational enterprises--the moderating role of formal institutional distance and political connections.
title_full_unstemmed The influence of cultural friction on foreign divestment of multinational enterprises--the moderating role of formal institutional distance and political connections.
title_short The influence of cultural friction on foreign divestment of multinational enterprises--the moderating role of formal institutional distance and political connections.
title_sort influence of cultural friction on foreign divestment of multinational enterprises the moderating role of formal institutional distance and political connections
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0295443&type=printable
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