Top Management Team Heterogeneity and SME Export Performance: Investigating the Role of Environmental Uncertainty
Abstract
Research has generally found that firm competing in high uncertainty environments gain advantages from having diverse (heterogeneous) management teams (TMTs). Employing a national survey of 70 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the present study examined whether TM T heterogeneity in functional background, international work experience, and foreign language proficiency had a stronger relationship with export performance for firms competing in high than those competing in low uncertainty environments. Results were generally weak when market and industry factors contributing to uncertainty were examined separately; however, additional analysis showed that the hypothesized relationship did exist when uncertainty was measured employing both factors simultaneously.
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