Seite - 263 - in Digital Entrepreneurship - Impact on Business and Society

institutions canbe encouragedbyparticipating digital platforms,which is achieved viamultiple search engines andmultimedia resources. General knowledge Whilemarket-specific knowledge acquisition process can be largely influenced by the application ofDTs, it is also true for the acquisition of general knowledge. In particular, the application of DTs may potentially reshape the organizations. Buildingonaculturalperspective,Mathewsetal. (2016)proposedthat theemerging technology platforms force the firms to be exposed in a global context, which encourages decision-makers to bemore adaptable to andmorewilling to learn and appreciate about other cultures. This leads to the firm to take amore international identity, and force thefirmtoknowbetter abouthowto internationalize. Ina similar vein,Autio (2017)underscored thatDTsenable amore anadaptableorganizational structure for foreignoperations,byenhancing theflexibilityof thestructure tobetter orchestrate resources and try varied value propositions in foreignmarkets. Contingent factor: knowledge acquisition heterogeneity Although DTs would encourage the firm to accumulate knowledge, it should be highlighted that not all firms can equally benefit (Alarcón-del-Amo et al. 2018; Sigfusson and Chetty 2013; Moen et al. 2008). There are at least three reasons leading to this heterogeneity. Firstly, the amount of knowledge canbe accumulated and can be dependent on for what purposes DTs are utilized. To illustrate this notion, it is observed that applying DTs for information search or relationship development can contribute to knowledge accumulation,while usingDTs only for sales activitywould not bring significantlymore knowledge (Moen et al. 2008). Secondly, knowledge acquisition is also influenced by firm’s degree of com- mitment to technologies. Some past studies support this argument (Glavas et al. 2019; Sigfusson and Chetty 2013). For instance, Alarcón-del-Amo et al. (2018) investigated the role of socialmedia application amongexport-oriented companies, concluding that only thosewith high commitment of social media can obtain suf- ficient market knowledge by communicating better with their customers. In a similar vein, Sigfusson andChetty (2013) indicatedknowledgeaccumulation could bemore effective when proactive activities are taken in the cyberspace. Thirdly,firm characteristics could also explain the source of this heterogeneity. For example,Moen et al. (2008) argued that firm age could be a significant con- textual factor for foreignmarket acquisitionenabledbyDTs.Tomaintain theextant customer relationships, older exportersmaybe lessmotivated to useDTs as away to accumulate newmarket knowledge. This position is consistent with an organi- zational learning argument in international entrepreneurship literature which highlights younger organizations are in general more flexible for knowledge acquisition than older ones (Autio et al. 2000; Sapienza et al. 2006). Furthermore, Glavas et al. (2019) observed the internationalization stage and pattern, including the phase of internationalization (i.e., pre, early, later) and the pace of interna- tionalization (i.e., incremental, non-incremental), canalsobe influential for typesof acquired knowledge. Pursuing International Opportunities in a Digitally EnabledWorld 271