Individual-Level Determinants of International Orientation of a Firm: A Study Based on Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Data

In recent decades economic integration and globalization processes facilitate the firms’ internationalization. The main determinants of that process are divided into three categories - internal factors, external factors and personal characteristics of an entrepreneur. The latter is considered to be the most important and will be the research subject in this article. The objective of this paper is to analyze the determinants of firm internationalization on the individual level and to verify whether entrepreneurial traits of the founder are indeed important for the internationalization. The research is based on the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data, using which we employ independent sample t-test and one-way ANOVA analyses to test the hypotheses. The results show that the only variable which determines international orientation of a company is the level of education of an entrepreneur. All other characteristics of an entrepreneur do not correlate with international orientation of a firm. Results obtained make important contribution to entrepreneurship research - they show significant shift in international entrepreneurship trends - internationalization is getting more available, less risky and more natural for entrepreneurs of different ages, backgrounds and individual characteristics. Findings may be useful for further international entrepreneurship research.