Title: The influence of leadership styles on the internationalisation of 'born-global' firms and traditionally global-expanding firms

Authors: Sascha Kraus; Thomas Niemand; Markus Besler; Philipp Stieg; Carla Martinez-Ciment

Addresses: École Supérieure du Commerce Extérieur, ESCE International Business School, 10 rue Sextius Michel, 75015 Paris, France ' Institute of Management and Economics, Clausthal University of Technology, Albrecht-von-Groddeck-Straße 7, 38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany ' Institute for Entrepreneurship, University of Liechtenstein, Fürst-Franz-Josef-Strasse, 9490 Vaduz, Liechtenstein ' Institute for Entrepreneurship, University of Liechtenstein, Fürst-Franz-Josef-Strasse, 9490 Vaduz, Liechtenstein ' Facultad de Economía, Universitat de València, Av. dels Tarongers, S/N, 46022 Valencia, Spain

Abstract: Leadership and internationalisation are both established areas of scientific research, yet their interplay remains insufficiently examined. The present study focuses on the former and aims to shed more light on the intersection of leadership and internationalisation. By utilising fsQCA, a qualitative comparative analysis, to a set of 437 active international firms, results suggest that under distinct conditions transactional as well as transformational leadership can lead to a high level of internationalisation for both traditional internationalising and so-called 'born-global' firms.

Keywords: leadership; full range leadership model; fsQCA; internationalisation; degree of internationalisation; born global; traditional internationalising firms.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIM.2018.094457

European Journal of International Management, 2018 Vol.12 No.5/6, pp.554 - 575

Received: 31 Jul 2017
Accepted: 18 Dec 2017

Published online: 03 Sep 2018 *

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