Immigrant social networks and foreign entry: Australia and New Zealand firms in the European Union and Greater China

► This paper presents a theoretical framework that hypothesizes the linkages between immigrant social networks and foreign market entry (FME) strategies for firms operating in the European Union (EU) and Greater China (GC) region. ► “Immigrant effect” (IE) is used as a proxy for immigrant social networks. IE refers to firms that are owned and/or hired immigrants in key decision-making positions to manage and/or market their products/services in the immigrant's country of origin (COO). ► The findings of this study reveal that immigrants do play a pivotal role in affecting the choice of FME mode into their respective COO in both EU and GC regions. Firms could employ a standardized IE-FME framework across the EU and GC regions. ► The antecedents for choosing an IE are different for both regions, suggesting that a different antecedent-IE framework for the EU and the GC regions. ► The results suggest that both standardized and adapted approaches should be considered when formulating the antecedent-IE-FME framework for the EU and GC regions. ► The findings of this study has theoretical implications for research pertaining to social network/ethnic network and FME, standardization/adaptation as well as practical implications for firms that seek to use IE in transacting business in the immigrant's COO.