Investigating the Impact of Target Firm Members’ Trust Antecedents on the Perofrmance of Cross-border Acquisition (CBA)

Abstract

Cross-border acquisitions (CBAs), as organisational entities which are formed and controlled by foreign firms, are one of the most effective methods of expansion available to international firms. Cross-border acquisition is a highly complex and multi-faceted business model which presents several challenges for management. Over the past several years, CBA has become a more frequent target for research in business, and has received significant attention from academia and practitioners alike. The aim of this research is to investigate the factors that impact interorganizational trust and as an outcome, the performance of CBAs in Iraq and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). According Fadol and Sandhu, (2013), Abosag and Lee, (2012), there are few studies that focused on alliances in Middle Eastern countries and more studies on these areas are required. The empirical study is preceded by a review of the existing literature that led to the development of a conceptual framework for this research. The target population samples for this research were collected from four target firm’s employees in Iraq and the UAE, where those firms were identified as having acquired by firms from Western Europe and Asia. The research tool used to collect the necessary data was a survey questionnaire, and the data analysis was undertaken using SPSS and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The findings of this study identify that relationship history, inter-firm distance, and integration approach factors have a positive impact on the level of target firm members’ trust; while factors such as collaboration history, complementarity, and autonomy preservation were not found to have a positive and significantly related to the trust. Moreover, Country risk was found to have a negative and significant relationship with the trust. Religion was not found to be positive and significantly related to the trust. Furthermore, positive relationship between trust and performance and between commitment and performance were found. The results of this study offer a framework that identifies the key factors in the development of trust within CBAs and demonstrates that this trust and it’s antecedents have a significant impact on firm performance in Middle Eastern countries such as Iraq and UAE. The findings of this study offer us implications for meaningful managerial practice in selecting cross-border competitors as target firms.