International digital competence: scale development and validation

• Grant number: 18/09113-6
• Support type: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Effective date (Start): August 01, 2018
• Effective date (End): January 31, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Administration
• Principal Investigator: Fernanda Cecília Ribeiro Cahen
• Grantee: Fernanda Cecília Ribeiro Cahen
• Host: Dr. Helena Yli-Renko
• Home Institution: Campus de Liberdade. Centro Universitário da FEI (UNIFEI). Fundação Educacional Inaciana Padre Sabóia de Medeiros (FEI). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Local de pesquisa : University of Southern California (USC), United States

Abstract

The objective of this project is to develop and validate a scale to measure the new construct international digital competence (IDC) as a competence in the firm's international strategy. Digital companies have been creating new ways to access international markets that can make physical presence overseas less fundamental. The digital dimension of these companies has allowed them to break the operational nexus between foreign sales and foreign direct investment (FDI), thus producing different international footprints compared to product-based multinationals. This project reflects a work in progress; we have articulated a set of capabilities that enable the internationalization of digital companies without FDI or with limited outward assets characterized by non-equity entry modes. Based on this articulation, we've conceptualized a new construct, international digital competence (IDC). The aim here is to develop and validate a scale to measure this construct. Several psychometric procedures will be adopted, such as specification and refinement of the IDC construct, generation and refinement of items to measure each dimension of the construct, formal specification of the measurement model, and series of data collection that will be applied multivariate statistical techniques. The results ambition is to validate the IDC scale as a multidimensional construct reflected in a set of four dimensions: programming skills, virtual networks, digital monetizing adaptability, and digital business model innovation. The results of this project have implications for future research in international entrepreneurship and will help entrepreneurs to develop a more assertive behavior in the search for internationalization.