Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the social-cognitive antecedents of an entrepreneur’s internationalization intent and a firm’s behavior. Building on the insights of social-cognitive psychology, the author develops a conceptual model linking an entrepreneur’s positive orientation, self-efficacy beliefs, internationalization intent and actual behavior of the firm. Design/methodology/approach The author tests this model with a sample of 310 Polish firms (including 241 domestic and 69 international new ventures), drawing on data collected first in 2006 and then in 2007. Findings The author finds that self-efficacy mediates between positive orientation and internationalization intent, and that an entrepreneur’s internationalization intent predicts a firm’s behavior (i.e. foreign market entry). Moreover, firm age moderates the relationship between an entrepreneur’s positive orientation and internationalization propensity among new ventures. Research limitations/implications Overall, the findings demonstrate that social-cognitive theory is useful in predicting new venture internationalization. Practical implications Based on the findings, the author recommends that managerial education in international management combines the development of “formal” skills and cross-cultural competencies with experiential and vicarious learning. Originality/value The study combines insights from psychology and international business, thus responding to numerous calls for a more interdisciplinary and cognition-oriented focus on the international behavior of firms.

中文翻译：

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新创企业国际化的社会认知前提

目的本文的目的是调查企业家国际化意图和企业行为的社会认知前提。基于社会认知心理学的见解，作者开发了一个概念模型，将企业家的积极取向，自我效能感信念，国际化意图和企业的实际行为联系起来。设计/方法/方法作者使用310家波兰公司（包括241家国内和69家国际新企业）的样本对该模型进行了测试，并借鉴了2006年和2007年首先收集的数据。积极的定位和国际化的意图，以及企业家的国际化意图可以预测企业的行为（即国外市场进入）。此外，企业年龄可以缓和企业家的积极方向与新企业之间的国际化倾向之间的关系。研究的局限性/意义总的来说，研究结果表明，社会认知理论对于预测新的风险国际化是有用的。实际意义基于这些发现，作者建议国际管理中的管理教育将“正式”技能和跨文化能力的发展与经验和替代学习结合起来。独创性/价值本研究结合了心理学和国际业务的见解，从而回应了对企业国际行为更加跨学科和以认知为导向的众多呼吁。