The curvilinear relationship between digitalization and export propensity: The role of home country corruption in emerging economies

Drawing on resource-based and institutional considerations, we suggest a curvilinear relationship between digitalization and the export propensity of emerging economy enterprises (EEEs), while also arguing that this association is influenced by the level of corruption in the home country. We run a multilevel analysis on a dataset of firm- and country-level characteristics for 35 emerging economies and 17,265 observations. Our predictions confirm an inverted U-shaped relationship between digitalization and export propensity. Additionally, we find that corruption steepens this curvilinear relationship. These insights contribute to a nuanced understanding of the interplay between digitalization, corruption, and the internationalization efforts of EEEs. • The study examines how digitalization and institutional factors shape the export strategies of emerging economy enterprises. • Digitalization shows an inverted U-shaped impact on export propensity in emerging economy firms. • Corruption amplifies both the benefits and downsides of digitalization on exporting.