This article proposes a network signalling theory approach to analyse small firm internationalisation in the digital economy. We use a data set of 4446 small- and medium-sized firms extracted from Funderbeam and logit regression models to test five hypotheses about internationalisation. Exploring a firm’s digital presence indicates that the number of social media followers is a better indicator of internationalisation than website traffic, highlighting the importance of engagement signals in the digital space. Investment signals such as the time and size of funding are also positively related to internationalisation but surprisingly, not the number of investors, suggesting that more focused investment strategies work better in the international context. To complement our international network signalling approach, controlling for firm factors such as age and size and environmental factors such as competition and industry provides a more detailed analysis. Our contribution lies in extending signalling theory in the context of international networks using a novel and extensive data set.

本文提出了一种网络信号理论方法来分析数字经济中的小企业国际化。我们使用从Funderbeam提取的4446个中小型企业的数据集和logit回归模型来检验关于国际化的五个假设。探索公司的数字化存在表明，社交媒体关注者的数量比网站访问量更好地显示了国际化，这表明参与度信号在数字空间中的重要性。诸如投资时间和资金规模之类的投资信号也与国际化呈正相关，但令人惊讶的是，与投资者数量无关。这表明更具针对性的投资策略在国际背景下效果更好。为了补充我们的国际网络信令方法，控制年龄和规模等公司因素以及竞争和行业等环境因素可提供更详细的分析。我们的贡献在于使用新颖而广泛的数据集在国际网络范围内扩展信令理论。