Can family ownership mitigate the risks of early internationalization?

Existing studies have analyzed both the impact of internationalization on the survival of new ventures and the moderation of family ownership on the internationalization–performance relationship, but they have done separately. However, this research has overlooked the potential moderating effect of family ownership on the relationships between specific dimensions of internationalization (international intensity, age at entry, post-entry speed, and export regional diversification) and the survival of new ventures that internationalize early. We used the Cox proportional hazards model to analyze a longitudinal dataset of new ventures spanning from 2010 to 2018. We demonstrate that family ownership, through the dominance of socio-emotional wealth preservation concerns, modifies the impact of survival hazards associated with early internationalization, international intensity, and the speed of international expansion. We contribute to the literature on family firm internationalization, international entrepreneurship, and the survival of new ventures by identifying the boundary conditions that may make family firms more reluctant to expand abroad.