This study investigates the influence of country reputation differentials on market reaction to international acquisitions. Building on social identity theory, we argue that market reactions are more positive when the reputation of the acquirer’s country is better than that of the target’s, since a country’s reputation imprints on its firms due to social categorization. Thus, firms from countries with better reputations are perceived as having superior skills/capabilities and the reputation difference suggests that the acquirer is able to identify/exploit undervalued targets and leverage synergies. The influence of country reputation should be weaker when additional information on the merging firms is present, through news media reporting and analyst coverage of the merging firms as well as the acquirer’s prior acquisition track record, since market investors will rely less on country reputation. We find support for our hypotheses for a sample of 4,792 international acquisitions across 48 countries from 2009 to 2017.

中文翻译：

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国家声誉差异如何影响市场对国际收购的反应

本研究调查了国家声誉差异对市场对国际收购反应的影响。基于社会认同理论，我们认为，当收购方所在国家的声誉好于目标国家的声誉时，市场反应更为积极，因为由于社会分类，一个国家的声誉会对其公司产生影响。因此，来自声誉较好国家的公司被认为具有卓越的技能/能力，而声誉差异表明收购方能够识别/利用被低估的目标并利用协同效应。当存在关于合并公司的额外信息时，通过新闻媒体报道和分析师对合并公司的报道以及收购方之前的收购记录，国家声誉的影响应该会减弱，因为市场投资者将减少对国家声誉的依赖。我们对 2009 年至 2017 年在 48 个国家/地区的 4,792 次国际收购样本的假设得到了支持。