Analysis of information availability (F1) pertaining to markets and competitors positively co-correlated with information usage (F2) (estimation regression coefficient .48), interactive communication (F3) (.37), international mindset (F4) (.23), business relationships usage (F5) (.12) and Internet intensity of the firm (F7) (.28), as presented in Table 6.19. That is, only information availability was found to be an exogenous variable that had a significant influence on multiple endogenous variables such as information usage, interactive communication, international mindset, business relationships usage and the Internet intensity of the firm. In an international market growth decision process, information is needed prior to internationalisation (Petersen, et al., 2002). This finding was consistent with theoretical viewpoints of information knowledge in the internationalisation process. Firstly, informational availability of the firm was mediated by the Internet intensity of the firm (.28 & .28). That is, information availability had a positive relationship with information usage, interaction, international mindset and business relationship usage. However, information availability did not have a direct relationship with international market growth. Thus, hypotheses H2, H3 and H9 were accepted and hypothesis H1 was not accepted. As previously discussed, information availability also had a direct relationship with international mindset and business relationship usage. Thus,
hypotheses A1 and A2 were accepted as alternative pathways.
Table 6.19 Evaluated hypotheses table
Code Hypothesis Regression
weights
Accepted/rejected
INFAVL–INTGRO H1 Information availability has a direct relationship with international market growth.
- -
Rejected (E) Rejected (NE)
INFAVL–INTINS H2 The information availability of the firm is mediated by the Internet intensity of the firm.
.28 (E) .28 (NE)
Accepted Accepted
INFAVL–INFUSE H3 Information availability has a correlating effect on information usage of the firm.
.48 (E) .48 (NE)
Accepted Accepted
INFUSE–INTGRO H4 The usage of information has a direct relationship with international market growth.
- -
Rejected (E) Rejected (NE)
INFUSE–INTINS H5 Information usage is mediated by the Internet intensity of the firm.
.27 (E) .26 (NE)
Accepted Accepted
INFUSE–INTACT H6 Information usage is correlated with interactive communication
- -
Rejected (E) Rejected (NE)
INTACT–INTGRO H7 Interactive communication has a direct relationship with international market growth
- .23 (NE)
Rejected Accepted
INTACT–INTINS H8 Interactive communication is mediated by the Internet Intensity of the firm.
- -
Rejected (E) Rejected (NE)
INFAVL–INTACT H9 The perceived information availability of the firm has a positive relationship with interactive communication
.37 (E) .37(NE)
Accepted Accepted
INTMND–INTGRO H10 The international mindset of the firm has a direct positive relationship with international market growth.
.22 (E) .41 (NE)
Accepted Accepted
INTMND–INTINS H11 The international mindset of the firm is mediated by the Internet intensity of the firm.
.08 (E) .07 (NE)
Accepted Accepted
INTMND–BUSREL H12 International mindset has a positive relationship with the use of business relationships.
.30 (E) .33 (NE)
Accepted Accepted
BUSREL–INTGRO H13 Business relationships have a direct relationship with international market growth.
.18 (E) .14 (NE)
Accepted Accepted
BUSREL–INTINS H14 Business relationships are mediated by the Internet intensity of the firm.
.14 (E) .16 (NE)
Accepted Accepted
PSYDIS–INTGRO H15 Psychic distance has a negative direct relationship with international market growth.
-
.17 (-) (NE)
Rejected (E) Accepted
PSYDIS–INTINS H16 The Internet intensity of the firm mediates the psychic distance of the firm.
- -
Rejected (E) Rejected (NE)
PSYDIS–INTMND H17 Psychic distance of the firm has a negative relationship with the usage of business networks for the firm.
-
-.10 (-) (NE)
Rejected (E) Accepted (NE)
PSYDIS–BUSREL H18 Psychic distance of the firm has a negative relationship with the international mindset of the firm.
- -
Rejected (E) Rejected (NE)
INTINS–INTGRO H19 Internet intensity has a positive relationship with international market growth of the firm.
.04 (E) .04 (NE) Accepted Accepted Alternative correlations Re-specification correlations
INFAVL–INTMND A1 Information availability is positively correlated to the international mindset of the firm
.23 (E) .23 (NE)
Accepted Accepted
INFAVL–BUSREL A2 Information availability is positively correlated to the use of business relationships.
.12 (E) .12 (NE)
Accepted Accepted
INTACT–INTMND A3 Interactive communication is positively correlated with the International mindset of the firm.
.30 (E) .31 (NE)
Accepted Accepted Notes: E=English-speaking model, NE= non-English-speaking model
Source: developed for this research
Further, information usage was not found to be correlate with interactive communication (.06 & .07). Thus, Hypothesis 6 was not accepted. Interactive communication of the firm (F3) was found to positively correlate with international mindset of the firm. That is, the greater the perception of interactive communication of the firm, the greater the propensity of the firm to have an international mindset (.30 & .31). Thus, Hypothesis A3 was accepted. Conversely, the interaction communication of the firm was not found to be mediated by the Internet intensity of the firm, as had been postulated. Thus, Hypothesis 4 was not accepted. This finding highlighted that interaction communication is capturing a more traditional perspective of interactive communication, as opposed to a specific Internet interaction. Further, there was a direct relationship between interactive communication and the international growth of the firm, but only in English speaking markets (.23 English markets). However, non-English speaking markets are mediated by the international mindset of the firm. Thus, Hypothesis 7 was partially accepted (for English speaking market growth).
The international mindset of the firm (F4) was found to correlate with the use of business relationships (.30 & .32). Thus, Hypothesis 12 was accepted. Further, the international mindset of the firm positively correlated with the Internet intensity of the firm. That is, the greater the international mindset of the firm, the greater the
perceived Internet intensity of the firm. Thus, the International mindset of the firm was mediated by the Internet intensity of the firm in the pursuit of international market growth (.08 & .07). Thus, Hypothesis 11 was accepted. Further, there was a direct path relationship between international mindset and international market growth. Thus, Hypothesis 10 was accepted. Moreover, International mindset of the firm had a greater effect on non-English market growth than English market growth, with standardised regression coefficients of (NE) .41 and (E) .22 respectfully, as seen in Table 6.19. That is, the international mindset of the firm had the propensity to affect international growth, but this was more marked in non-English speaking markets.
The use of business relationships (F5) was mediated by the Internet intensity of the firm. Thus, Hypothesis 14 was accepted. Further, the use of business relationships has a direct relationship with international market growth. That is, the Internet intensity of the firm was not the only explanation for business relationship usage as a path toward international market growth (.18 & .14). Thus, Hypothesis 13 was accepted.
Psychic distance (F6) was predicted to influence the psychology of decision makers in the international market growth process. However, Factor 8 (International market growth) split into two factors: English-speaking market growth and non-English- speaking market growth. Consequently, psychic distance only correlated with non- English market. Thus, psychic distance of the firm was found not to have a covariance in the English-speaking market model, which is theoretically sound as English markets would not be perceived as distinct from Australia. Thus, Hypothesis 16 was not accepted. Psychic distance of the firm was not correlated with business relationships of the firm. Thus, Hypothesis 18 was not accepted. The psychic distance of the firm was negatively correlated to the international mindset of the firm. That is, the greater the psychic distance, the greater the negative international mindset of the firm (-.10 non English model). Thus, Hypothesis 17 was partially accepted. Moreover, psychic distance was also negatively correlated with international market growth (non-English-speaking markets). Thus, Hypothesis 15 was accepted.
Lastly, the Internet intensity (F7) of the firm had a direct relationship with the international market growth. Thus, Hypothesis 19 was accepted. Thus, hypotheses 1, 4, 6, 8, 16, and 18 were not found to be statistically significant. However, the majority of hypotheses—2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, and 19—were found to be statistically significant, as presented in Table 6.19. Further, three additional paths were found to be statistically significant and theoretically plausible. That is, A1, A2 and A3 were also found to be theoretically valid, as illustrated in Figure 6.6.
Figure 6.6 Internetalisation model: significant and non-significant paths
Internationalisation components
H3 H1
H9
H2 H4 Mediating Performance outcome
H6 H5 H7 H8 H19 H11 H10 H12 H14 H13 H18 H16 H17 H15
Notes: --- non significant pathway. Significant pathway. New pathways F3 interactive communication significant for only English- speaking model. Psychic distance only significant for non-English speaking model.
Source: developed for this research
Most paths were found to be significant (.05>) within the full model, as outlined in Table 6.20. However, when interrelationships were assessed simultaneously, some predicted pathways were found not to be significant. These construct interrelationships, although model-fit indicators highlight good model fit, had non- significant regression weightings. These inconsistencies will be evaluated next.
F1 Information availability F2 Information usage F8 International market growth F4 International mindset F7 Internet intensity F3 Communication interactivity F5 International networks F6 Psychic distance
Although the relationships of international mindset (F4) and international market growth (F8) with the Internet intensity of the firm (F7) were not significant in the regression weights, this can be explained by the heavily shared context of the Internet intensity factor. That is, multiple mediation effects were found for Internet intensity, which diluted the regression weights. For example, regression weights without any other shared co-correlation between Internet intensity and international market growth were significant in both models: English speaking market Model 1) was .183 and non-English speaking market Model 2 was .195. Similarly, the relationship between Internet intensity and the international mindset of the firm was also found to be significant without co-correlations, with a regression weight of .365.
Table 6.20 Model 1 and 2 correlation matrices estimates
English market growth: Model 1 Non English market growth: Model 2 Factor Factor Est. Sig. Factor---- Factor Est. Sig.
INFAVL INFUSE .488 sig. INFAVL INFUSE .488 sig.
INFAVL INTACT .371 sig. INFAVL INTACT .373 sig.
INFAVL INTMND .235 sig. INFAVL INTMND .236 sig.
INFAVL BUSREL .177 sig. INFAVL BUSREL .178 sig.
INFAVL INTINS .284 sig. INFAVL INTINS .280 sig.
INFUSE INTINS .265 sig. INFUSE INTINS .261 sig.
INTACT INTMND .295 ns INTACT INTMND .314 sig.
INTACT INTGRO .232 sig. INTACT INTGRO .005 ns
INTMND BUSREL .307 sig. INTMND BUSREL .331 sig.
INTMND INTINS .078 ns INTMND INTINS .068 ns
INTMND INTGRO .225 sig. INTMND INTGRO .413 sig.
BUSREL INTINS .142 sig. BUSREL INTINS .158 sig.
BUSREL INTGRO .180 sig. BUSREL INTGRO .136 sig.
PYSDIS INTMND PYSDIS INTMND -.104 sig.
PYSDIS INTGRO PYSDIS INTGRO -.171 sig.
INTINS INTGRO .039 ns INTINS INTGRO .035 ns
Notes:
Est. the regression weight standardised estimate between constructs Sig. significant relationships between constructs
ns non-significant Relationships between constructs
Further, it was necessary to provide readers with a certain amount of information pertaining to the model and interrelations discussed above. That is, a complete set of data with parameters, standard errors, correlations, covariance matrixes, discrepancies and goodness-of-fit indices has been discussed (Boomsma, 2000; McDonald & Ho, 2002). This information allows readers to employ independent critical judgment of the model and is a benchmark for reporting in structural equation modelling (McDonald & Ho, 2002). This enables readers to replicate the study (Boomsma, 2000). Thus, both sample matrices and implied matrices pertaining to covariance and correlation are presented in appendixes K and L.
Validity
There should be a large change in the chi-squared score to indicate discrimination between factors (Hair, et al., 2006). A series of confirmatory factor analysis tests identifies whether a one-factor or two-factor solution fits better (Bagozzi, et al., 1991). That is, through a CFA process, discriminant validity was assessed by un- constraining and constraining a two-model solution, so as to identify whether the two factors were indeed different or discriminated (Bagozzi, et al., 1991; Atuahene-Gima, 2005), as presented in Table 6.21. Analysis indicated a large change in the chi- squared score, highlighting adequate discrimination between factors. Thus, discriminant validity was established
Table 6.21 Discriminant validity chi-squared test (final modified model)
Factor Factor χ ² UC DF χ ² C DF
Information availability Information usage 83.6 13 292.2 14
Information availability Interactive communication 44.9 13 310.0 14
Information availability International mindset 55.1 19 400.5 20
Information availability Business relationships 26.8 19 399.2 20
Information availability Internet intensity 10.5 8 119.7 9
Information usage Internet intensity 27.0 4 134.0 5
Interactive communication Internet intensity 1.7 4 136.8 5
Interactive communication International mindset 27.6 13 261.8 14
Interactive communication*
International market growth: English model
16.1 8 260.2 9
International mindset Internet intensity 21.9 8 146.1 9
International mindset International market growth:
English model 52.2 13 312.5 14
International mindset International market growth:
Non English model
12.9 13 345.1 14
Business relationships Internet intensity 8.5 8 142.9 9
Business relationships International market growth:
English model 26.5 13 356.2 14
Business relationships International market growth:
Non English model
11.7 13 588.6 14
Psychic distance* International mindset 33.6 19 498.7 20
Psychic distance* International market growth:
Non English mode
24.6 13 625.2 14
Internet intensity International market growth:
English model 4.4 4 141.9 5
Internet intensity International market growth:
Non English model 1.9 4 142.9 5
Notes:
* Psychic distance only in non-English market growth model. And Interactive communication direct relationship with international market growth only in English market growth.
UC unconstrained
C constrained
DF degree of freedom.
Source: developed for this research
Another measure of discriminant validity is the comparison between the correlation coefficient and composite reliability scores (Gaski, 1984). That is, the correlation coefficient should not exceed the construct reliability of the factors. In this study, the composite reliability scores ranged from .61 to .83, and were larger than the highest correlation score of .488. Thus, discriminant validity was supported as shown in Table 6.21.
In conclusion, data was analysed for normality, missing data and addressing non- response bias issues. A confirmatory factor analysis for individual factors and a saturated CFA indicated reasonable factor interrelationships, without showing definitive interactions and pathways. The proposed models were assessed as illustrated in Figures 6.2 and 6.3. An oversimplification of the complex interrelationships was evident within the competing model ‗internetalisation‘, as illustrated in Figures 6.4 and 6.5 and summarised in a theoretical model in Figure 6.7.
Figure 6.7 Final model: theoretical interrelationships
Source: developed for this research
The interrelationships within the internetalisation model will be assessed next. That is the research issues and research question are resolved with the theoretical implications and contributions highlighted.
Information availability Information usage Interactive communication International mindset Business relationships Internet intensity International market growth Psychic distance
--- For non English markets (PSYDIS)