Internationalization Orientation and Export Performance: Investigating the Mediating Effects of Export Knowledge and Moderating Environmental Dynamism

Intense competition in the domestic market and globalization have increased the desire of companies to internationalization. Meanwhile export is one of the strategies which has been the most used for internationalization of companies. The purpose of this research is to investigating the effect of internationalization orientation and export knowledge on export performance with the role of moderating environmental dynamism. The research is applied in terms of purpose and in terms of method and data collection, it is descriptive-survey type. The statistical population of this research consists of small and medium export companies in Tabriz, where 114 managers and deputies of these companies were selected by census method. A standard questionnaire was used to collect data, which content validity of the questionnaire from the experts' point of view and its reliability were confirmed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The Structural equation modeling and PLS3 software has been used to investigate hypotheses. The results showed that the internationalization orientation both directly and through export knowledge has a positive effect on the export performance of companies. Environmental dynamics also moderate the relationship between internationalization orientation and export performance. The results showed that the internationalization orientation provides the necessary context for companies to enter the international markets so that they become international faster and by compensating for the lack of resources, it causes the expansion of this type of companies. The research results can be used as a guide for policy makers, companies and export managers.