Top executives' international expertise commitment: exploring potential antecedents

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the immediate antecedents of top executives' international expertise commitment. More specifically, the study focuses on the impact of top management characteristics and the international business performance of firms on top management's commitment to developing international expertise in their workforce. Design/methodology/approach – Primary data were collected targeting the top executives of Fortune 500 and INC 500 firms. The final dataset contained responses from 111 top executives. Findings – The results of the study show that top executives' international experience, perceived importance of international business in career progression, and past, present, and future business performance are positively related to international expertise commitment. Practical implications – The findings provide implications for top management hiring decisions. Organizations embarking on the creation of a workforce with international expertise should consider hiring top executives who possess considerable international experience and who perceive international business as an important component in their career progression. Originality/value – Organizational researchers have devoted very little research attention to exploring what drives top managers to remain committed to developing/acquiring international expertise. This study attempts to fill the void in the extant literature by exploring the immediate predictors and their relative influence on top executives' international expertise commitment.