International Entrepreneurial Orientation and the Intention to Internationalize

This paper presents a conceptual model of international entrepreneurial intention (IEI) through the lens of planned behavior and expectancy-valence theories. Extending the entrepreneurial intentions literature, where attitude to sustainability has started to have an increasingly important influence, to post-launch decisions, we provide an improved theoretical rationale for new venture internationalization, clarify the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and IEI, and more closely align the international entrepreneurship literature with mainstream entrepreneurship literature. In this model, IEI is influenced by the entrepreneur’s attitudes to sustainability, learning, risk, work enjoyment, and work effort, moderated by entrepreneur’s perceived feasibility to act entrepreneurially, and determines the firm-level EO, which may culminate in the internationalization of a new or existing venture.