Domestic institutional attributes as drivers of export performance in an emerging and transition economy

As the importance of firms from emerging and transition economies (ETEs) increases in the global marketplace, there is a growing interest in their exporting practices. In this study, we provide a conceptual model anchored on the institution-based view (IBV) that reveals the impact of various domestic institutional attributes (i.e., specificity, stability, predictability, and enforceability) on the firm's export performance. We empirically test this model using SEM analysis with data collected from a sample of 109 Vietnamese exporters. Our results show that all four institutional attributes positively influence export performance. This link between domestic institutional attributes and export performance becomes stronger in the case of exporters characterized by larger size, more experience, foreign market concentration, and direct exporting methods. The exporter's location had a control effect on each of the four institutional attributes, while the principal foreign market and the type of product exported had an effect on export performance.