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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Article
Author(s)
Aleksandra Olejnik-Nizielska
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DOI:10.17265/1537-1514/2016.03.001
Affiliation(s)
Aleksandra Olejnik-Nizielska, Ph.D., associate professor, International Management Department, University of Economics Katowice, Katowice, Poland.
ABSTRACT
This paper provides insights and evidence related to the role of two of the psychic distance factors (differences in political and economic systems) in the process of Polish companies’ internationalization. Psychic distance is a concept widely used in international business and international marketing literature to assess differences in culture, economic, and political systems as well as differences in mentality and geographic distance. The objective of the paper was to identify the impact of political and economic differences on main decisions of Polish managers connected with internationalization and engagement in international business activity. The direct research allowed answering two research questions: What are the perceptions of managers about Psychic Distance and its stimuli (differences, differences in economic and political systems) between Poland and markets of foreign expansion of Polish companies? What is the impact of psychic distance stimuli differences in economic and political systems on the process of Polish companies internationalization? The paper is based on the critical literature overview and on the field research conducted on the sample of 13 Polish companies with the technique of in depth interview. The depth interviews were conducted with export and marketing managers and directors of Polish companies. In the first theoretical part of the article, different approaches to conceptualization, operationalization, and measurement of psychic distance were compared. The critical literature overview led to the conclusion that there is a need for researchers to rethink the conceptualization, operationalization, and measurement of the phenomenon and factors of psychic distance. It is assumed that psychic distance should be considered at the individual level, the factors having impact on managerial perceptions of differences among countries depend on the environmental factors, companies characteristics, and managers’ features. There is applied a methodology stating that psychic distance (and its stimuli) should not be measured only with the use of objective constructs and statistical data, but with the use of subjective data, such as the responses of decision makers. The results of depth interviews contain the essence of understanding in qualitative research, essentially, meaning knowledge based on experience, the confrontation of theoretical constructs with an empirical “world” and creation of the preliminary theory by the identification of constructs, when a priori assumption does not exist. The second empirical part of the article presents field research results on the importance of differences in political and economic systems in the process of companies internationalization. Empirical research reveals that differences in political and economic systems constitute important factor having impact on companies’ internationalization. They have the most significant impact on the number of countries subject to a company’s foreign expansion, the choice of directions for a company’s foreign expansion and the value of capital engagement on foreign markets. Such differences are also a crucial factor in making decisions on the withdrawal of business operations from international markets.
KEYWORDS
psychic distance, political factors, economic factors, companies’ internationalization, triangulation of methods, qualitative methods
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