Overcoming informal barriers to trade: Immigrant educational attainment vs. network competence

Yang X., Lin X.

International Business Review, vol.31, no.1, 2022 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 31 Issue: 1
  • Publication Date: 2022
  • Doi Number: 10.1016/j.ibusrev.2021.101918
  • Journal Name: International Business Review
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, Business Source Elite, Business Source Premier, Public Affairs Index
  • Keywords: Immigrant contributions to trade, Contingent RBV framework, Institutional vs, informational void, Network competence vs, educational attainment, Gravity modelling
  • TED University Affiliated: No

Abstract

© 2021 Elsevier LtdFocusing on developed countries as the destination of both migrants and traded goods, we adopt a contingent perspective to examine the efficacy of immigrant resources in the promotion of international trade. We find that only immigrants with a low level of education facilitate trade when they originate from a developing source country (south→north trade), whereas only highly educated immigrants facilitate trade when they originate from a developed source country (north→north trade). This difference emerges from the immigrant's role in helping overcome two distinct informal barriers to trade based on their different resource endowments in terms of network competence vs. educational attainment.