The moderating effect of big data analytics on the international experience - post-entry internationalization speed relationship: An empirical study of U.S. public firms

The accelerating digital transformation of international business has given rise to a critical tension: while traditional organizational learning theory emphasizes the gradual accumulation of experiential knowledge as the foundation for international expansion, Big Data Analytics introduces an alternative, algorithmic logic of learning that challenges this established paradigm. Grounded in organizational learning theory, this study examines how Big Data Analytics reconfigures the relationship between international experience, in both depth and breadth, and post-entry internationalization speed. We analyze panel data from 242 publicly listed US firms spanning 2010–2023, using a news-based measure of Big Data Analytics implementation. Our focus on large, established, non-IT public firms provides nuanced insights while bounding generalizability to this strategic context. For depth, Big Data Analytics mitigates the rigidity of deep experience, enabling firms to sustain faster PIS where returns would normally diminish, yet it simultaneously undermines this acceleration in early stages by suppressing the experiential learning vital for developing routines. For breadth, Big Data Analytics aids early cross-market learning but paradoxically undermines the strategic advantage of a broad portfolio, limiting the premium on extensive experience. Our study provides actionable insights for aligning Big Data Analytics with firms’ experiential profiles to optimize post-entry internationalization trajectories. • Big Data Analytics reshapes how firms convert deep and broad international experience into post‑entry expansion speed. • Big Data Analytics reverses the inverted U-shaped impact of international experience depth on post-entry internationalization speed. • Big Data Analytics flattens the U‑shaped impact of international experience breadth on post‑entry internationalization speed.