What explains the degree of internationalization of early-stage entrepreneurial firms? A multilevel study on the joint effects of entrepreneurial self-efficacy, opportunity-motivated entrepreneurship, and home-country institutions

Integrating recent theories of entrepreneurship with new institutional economics, we develop a multilevel model to deepen our knowledge of how micro-level entrepreneurs’ personality and motivational antecedents interact with macro-level home-country institutions in determining internationalization by early-stage entrepreneurial firms. Data were collected from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Adult Population Survey, GEM National Expert Survey, and the World Economic Outlook Database for the year of 2014. The results show that the personality trait of entrepreneurial self-efficacy contributes positively to the degree of internationalization via mobilizing opportunity-motivated entrepreneurship and that home-country formal institutions strengthen the above relationship of such young entrepreneurial firms.