Dialect Distance and Venture Capital Risk‐Taking: Evidence From China
ABSTRACT This study investigates how dialect distance affects venture capital (VC) firms' risk‐taking behaviour in China. Using data from 29,208 investment rounds between 2000 and 2018, we find that longer dialect distance reduces VC investment in early‐stage portfolio companies due to strengthening information asymmetry concerns and building trust barriers. However, the negative effect is weakened by factors such as VC managers' experience, high‐speed rail connectivity, regional quality of law enforcement, joint investments, central network position, and higher portfolio company patent activity. Our results highlight dialect distance as a significant obstacle to cross‐regional VC investments in China.
Authors
- Ji Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5937-8292)
- Tairan Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6672-7315)
- LI Jian-jun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1592-4359)
- Yu Guo
Institutions
- East China University of Science and Technology (CN)
- Shanghai Lixin University of Accounting and Finance (CN)
- University of Wollongong (AU)
- Massey University (NZ)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Accounting and Finance
- Published
- 2025-08-08
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.70073
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Private Equity and Venture Capital
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.91