文献类型：期刊文献

中文题名：东道国社会信任能降低企业跨国经营的不确定性吗?——以海外子公司所有权结构设计为例

英文题名：Does Social Trust in Host Countries Reduce the Uncertainty of Firm International Diversification? Taking the Ownership Structure of Chinese Foreign Subsidiaries as an Example

作者：雷玮[1];陈妍[1];吴琼[1]

机构：[1]华东理工大学商学院,上海200237

年份：2022

卷号：44

期号：1

起止页码：16

中文期刊名：外国经济与管理

外文期刊名：Foreign Economics & Management

收录：CSTPCD;;国家哲学社会科学学术期刊数据库;北大核心:【北大核心2020】；CSSCI:【CSSCI2021_2022】；

基金：国家自然科学基金项目(71972072,71772062)。

语种：中文

中文关键词：社会信任;外群体社会信任;内群体社会信任;所有权结构;海外子公司

外文关键词：social trust;out-group social trust;in-group social trust;ownership structure;foreign subsidiaries

摘要：理解东道国制度环境并选择与之相适应的管理方式对企业跨国经营获得成功具有重要影响。现有文献侧重于分析东道国规制制度和认知制度对企业跨国经营的影响,对规范制度研究较少。基于来自世界价值观调查的东道国社会信任数据以及中国上市公司2009—2018年在海外设立的6 921个子公司的数据,本文探讨规范制度的核心维度——东道国社会信任如何影响中国企业对海外子公司的管控。本文提出东道国外群体社会信任和内群体社会信任影响企业跨国经营所面临的交易成本和不确定性,进而影响母公司对海外子公司的持股水平。此外,文化距离和母公司跨国经验是东道国社会信任效应的重要边界条件。本文通过揭示东道国社会信任影响海外子公司管控的理论机理,不仅增进了人们对于规范制度及其对企业跨国经营战略的影响的认识,还对企业评估东道国规范制度环境、科学地设计海外子公司的所有权结构具有启示意义。
Based on the development of social trust literature, this study differentiates between out-group social trust and in-group social trust, and reveals their diverse impacts on the ownership structure of foreign subsidiaries. It proposes that out-group social trust and in-group social trust in host countries affect the transaction costs and uncertainties faced by foreign subsidiaries and hence affect their ownership structure. In specific, in host countries where out-group social trust is high, foreign subsidiaries face a lower level of transaction costs and uncertainties in associating and collaborating with local stakeholders. Therefore, parent firms are more likely to hold a higher level of ownership control in foreign subsidiaries. However, in host countries where in-group social trust is high, foreign subsidiaries face a higher level of transaction costs and uncertainties as local firms and other stakeholders are more exclusive and discriminate against foreign members. As a result, parent firms are more likely to give up part of ownership control in foreign subsidiaries in exchange for local support and resources.Furthermore, we propose that cultural distance and transnational experience of parent firms are important boundary conditions for the social trust effect of host countries. In host countries where cultural distance is high, foreign subsidiaries are more dependent on out-group social trust to overcome the transaction costs and uncertainties intensified by cultural distance. Meanwhile, cultural distance also worsens the exclusion effect of in-group social trust and increases the transaction costs and uncertainties faced by foreign subsidiaries. As a result, cultural distance reinforces both the positive effect of outgroup social trust and the negative effect of in-group social trust on parent firms’ ownership control in foreign subsidiaries. Regarding the moderating role of the international experiences of parent firms, for parent firms with richer experiences, their foreign subsidiaries are more skilled in collaborating with local stakeholders, and hence rely less on out-group social trust to reduce transaction costs and uncertainties. Meanwhile, richer experiences also enable foreign subsidiaries to better cope with transaction costs and uncertainty associated with exclusion induced by in-group social trust. As a result,the international experiences of parent firms attenuate both the positive effect of out-group social trust and the negative effect of in-group social trust on parent firms’ ownership control in foreign subsidiaries.Using the social trust data from World Values Survey and the data on 6 921 foreign subsidiaries founded by Chinese listed firms from 2009 to 2018, we find that out-group social trust in host countries is positively related to parent firms’ ownership control in foreign subsidiaries while in-group social trust is negatively related to it. In addition, cultural distance strengthens both the positive effect of out-group social trust and the negative effect of in-group social trust. The international experiences of parent firms weaken the negative effect of in-group social trust, yet empirical results do not lend support to its moderating role on the effect of in-group social trust. We also use a country’s lowest temperature and ethnic diversity as the instrumental variables of social trust to address potential endogeneity issues. By revealing the theoretical mechanism through which social trust in host countries affect the control of foreign subsidiaries, this study not only enhances the understanding of normative institution as well as its impact on corporate international strategies, but also provides practical implications for Chinese firms to evaluate the normative institutions in host countries and scientifically design the ownership structure of foreign subsidiaries.