The internationalization and performance of a firm: Moderating effect of a firm's behavior

Empirical studies show mixed results regarding the relationship between a firm's internationalization and performance. One reason is that these studies used various economic market firms as their research sample. Thus, this study on a firm's internationalization is based on newly industrialized economies to shed additional light on this relationship. According to the firm behavioral theory, the moderating impact of a firm's internal organizational slack and attainment discrepancy are critical for enhancing a firm's performance in the internationalization process.We tested these hypotheses using longitudinal data (2000–2005) from 179 high-technology listed companies in Taiwan. We extended the behavioral theory of the firm to explain the moderating effect on the internationalization–performance model. We found that firms tend to exhibit positive performance in internationalization when they have a higher level of organizational slack and attainment discrepancy.