What drives the internationalization of Chinese SMEs? The joint effects of international entrepreneurship characteristics, network ties, and firm ownership

• We study how network ties moderate Chinese SMEs’ IE-internationalization links.
• We explain the boundary conditions of the moderating effects of network ties.
• We found political ties more important in non-SOEs’ IE-internationalization links.
• We found business ties more important in SOEs’ IE-internationalization links.

The paper first investigates how Chinese small-to-medium enterprises’ (SMEs) network ties at home moderate the relationships between different international entrepreneurship (IE) characteristics and the degree of internationalization of the firm. The paper further explores how the Chinese SMEs’ ownership arrangement might explain the boundary conditions of the proposed moderating effects of network ties on the relationship between IE characteristics and internationalization. Findings of our empirical study generally support the hypotheses derived from our theoretical framework. The paper offers new insights into the internationalization of Chinese SMEs by ascertaining the differential contingent value of business versus political ties in the relationship between IE characteristics and internationalization and explores the bounds of our findings in terms of the ownership arrangement unique to the Chinese context.