Configuring political relationships to navigate host-country institutional complexity: Insights from Anglophone sub-Saharan Africa

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Boso, Nathaniel; Amankwah-Amoah, Joseph; Essuman, Dominic; Olabode, Oluwaseun E.; Bruce, Patience; Hultman, Magnus; Kutsoati, James Kofi; Adeola, Ogechi
• 署名单位: University of Pretoria; Kwame Nkrumah University Science & Technology; University of Kent; University of Sheffield; University of Bradford; Kwame Nkrumah University Science & Technology; Brock University; Kwame Nkrumah University Science & Technology; University of Pretoria
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2506
• DOI: 10.1057/s41267-022-00594-8
• 发表日期: 2023
• 页码: 1055-1089
• 关键词: corporate political activity; political resources; dysfunctional market conditions; MNE subsidiary performance; INSTITUTIONAL THEORY; configuration theory; moderated regression model; Sub-Saharan Africa

摘要

We examine how ties with multiple host-country political institutions contribute to MNE subsidiary performance in countries with weak formal institutions. We suggest that forging relationships between subsidiaries and host-country government actors, local chieftains, and religious leaders generates regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive political resources. We integrate institutional and configuration theories to argue that similarity to an ideal configuration of the three political resources contributes to MNE subsidiary performance, and that the more dysfunctional host-country institutions, the greater the impact on performance. We test our hypotheses using primary and archival data from 604 MNE subsidiaries in 23 Anglophone sub-Saharan African countries and find support for our hypotheses. In our conclusion, we discuss the wider theoretical, managerial, and public-policy implications of our findings.