To provide new understanding of the effect of historical ties in the field of international business, through the lens of institutional theory and the concept of the liability of foreignness, we examine how prior colonial relationships influence inward FDI from former colonisers to their former colonies in Africa. With an estimation based on a balanced panel of annual observations from 2001 to 2012, we find that prior colonial ties are positively related to inward FDI from colonisers to former colonies. However, there is substantial heterogeneity in colonial relationships, with the nature of British colonialism more likely to exhibit the colonial relationship in explaining inward FDI. Moreover, there is ambiguity associated with the influence of the time period of colonization and the time period of independence on inward FDI. We report a negative relationship between the period a country was a colony and FDI from the coloniser and a U-shape relationship between the period of independence and FDI from the coloniser. Our findings indicate that the nature and influence of colonial ties on FDI from colonisers are more nuanced and complex than previously considered.

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对非洲的外国直接投资：是否有殖民遗产？

为了通过制度理论和外国责任的概念提供对国际业务中历史联系的影响的新认识，我们研究了先前的殖民关系如何影响从前殖民者到非洲前殖民地的外国直接投资。通过对2001年至2012年的年度观测值进行均衡的评估，我们发现先前的殖民地联系与从殖民者到前殖民地的外国直接投资呈正相关。但是，殖民关系存在很大的异质性，英国殖民主义的性质更可能在解释内向外国直接投资时表现出殖民关系。此外，殖民化时期和独立时期对内向外国直接投资的影响存在歧义。我们报告一个国家是殖民地的时期与殖民者的外国直接投资之间呈负相关，而独立时期与殖民者的外国直接投资之间呈U形关系。我们的发现表明，殖民关系对殖民者对外国直接投资的影响和性质比以前考虑的更为细微和复杂。