Over the past two decades, Africa has witnessed a dramatic increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) despite a lack of significant changes in infrastructure and the host country’s policies. What are the motives to invest in Africa? How do these investment motives differ for firms from developed and emerging markets? Several studies empirically tested these questions, however, provided inconclusive results. By taking 735 estimates extracted from 51 studies and applying advanced meta-analysis techniques, this study examines the motives of FDI in Africa. We found that compared to market-seeking motive, the effect size of resource seeking and efficiency seeking is larger (smaller) on FDI attractiveness in Africa. In terms of effect size, the impact of asset-seeking motive on FDI is statistically comparable to that of market-seeking motive. Contrary to general perceptions, the impact of natural resources on FDI attractiveness in Africa is not different from market seeking for developed countries’ firms. Our results show that compared to GDP per capita, the effect size of accessing minerals and oil reserves on FDI attractiveness in Africa is positive and significant for global and emerging market firms. Our research shows that there is more likelihood of type I and type II publication selection bias in this research field.

中文翻译：

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非洲的投资动机：元分析评论告诉我们什么？

在过去的二十年里，尽管基础设施和东道国的政策没有发生重大变化，但非洲的外国直接投资 (FDI) 仍显着增加。投资非洲的动机是什么？对于发达市场和新兴市场的公司而言，这些投资动机有何不同？然而，几项研究对这些问题进行了实证检验，但没有得出结论性的结果。通过从 51 项研究中提取的 735 项估计值并应用先进的荟萃分析技术，本研究检验了非洲 FDI 的动机。我们发现，与市场寻求动机相比，资源寻求和效率寻求对非洲 FDI 吸引力的影响更大（更小）。就效应大小而言，资产寻求动机对 FDI 的影响在统计上与市场寻求动机的影响具有可比性。与一般看法相反，自然资源对非洲 FDI 吸引力的影响与发达国家公司的市场寻求没有什么不同。我们的研究结果表明，与人均 GDP 相比，获取矿产和石油储量对非洲 FDI 吸引力的影响大小对全球和新兴市场公司来说是积极且显着的。我们的研究表明，该研究领域存在更大的 I 型和 II 型出版物选择偏倚。