Top Management Team International Experience, International Information Acquisition and International Strategic Decision Rationality

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to test whether Top Management Team (TMT) international experience is associated positively to international information acquisition from managerial international contacts and whether international information partially mediates the positive relationship between TMT international experience and international strategic decision rationality. Methodology: Data were collected through a survey of small- and medium-sized (SMEs) Pakistani international software firms. Findings: This paper finds that TMT international experience is related positively to international information acquisition and that this information acquisition partially mediates the TMT international experience–international strategic decision rationality relationship. Practical Implications: When selecting the members of their TMT, international firms should pay careful attention to their international experience. Originality: Previous research demonstrates that TMT international experience has a positive effect on international strategic decision rationality and that this effect is transferred to performance. This study shows that the positive effect of TMT international experience derives from the personal international knowledge and the international information collected from managers’ international contacts. This ability to make rational international strategic decisions could have a positive effect on decision making and firm performance.