Prior research suggests that corporate boards and directors play important roles in firm strategy and performance. In this paper, we examine an important yet under-explored avenue and focus on their role in overcoming the multilevel psychic distance (PD) faced by internationalizing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) originating from an emerging market. Analysing Indian Fintech SMEs, using multiple case studies, our findings reveal that boards contribute important network-level resources and knowledge about foreign markets, which in turn assists internationalizing SMEs in mitigating PD. We demonstrate that the human and social capital of boards play important, yet distinctly different, roles in mitigating PD at pre- and post-internationalization phases. At the pre-internationalization phase, directors’ prior international and industry experience, as well as board interlocks and prior connections, are most valuable, whereas at the post-entry phase, transnational boards, and those with stronger trust-based personal relationships (i.e. greater depth of social capital, facilitate faster experiential learning. Taken together, our findings contribute novel insights into the mechanisms through which boards affect the outcomes of firms operating, and originating from, extreme institutional environments. Further, we draw implications for research and practice.

中文翻译：

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缓解新兴市场金融科技中小企业的心理距离和加强国际化：董事会的作用

先前的研究表明，公司董事会和董事在公司战略和绩效中发挥着重要作用。在本文中，我们研究了一条重要但尚未探索的途径，并重点关注它们在克服源自新兴市场的中小企业 (SME) 国际化所面临的多层次心理距离 (PD) 方面的作用。通过使用多个案例研究分析印度金融科技中小型企业，我们的研究结果表明，董事会贡献了重要的网络级资源和有关外国市场的知识，这反过来又有助于中小型企业国际化以缓解 PD。我们证明，董事会的人力和社会资本在国际化前后阶段在缓解 PD 方面发挥着重要但截然不同的作用。在国际化前阶段，我们的研究结果有助于深入了解董事会影响公司运营结果的机制，以及源自极端制度环境的公司。此外，我们对研究和实践产生影响。我们的研究结果有助于深入了解董事会影响公司运营结果的机制，以及源自极端制度环境的公司。此外，我们对研究和实践产生影响。