Building legitimacy and distinctiveness on Nigerian-Canadian transnational ventures’ websites

ABSTRACT

Achieving legitimacy in several markets is crucial for transnational ventures. Moreover, the literature on competitive strategy suggests that distinctiveness from competitors is a major source of competitive advantage for ventures. Nevertheless, our knowledge is sparse on how transnational ventures use claims to build legitimacy and distinctiveness through their website, which is increasingly the main point of contact with customers and other stakeholders. This research gap is especially relevant as an online presence plays a more important role than ever for ventures thriving to survive and grow. Thus, we analyzed (1) claims collected from 20 Nigerian-Canadian transnationals’ websites, classified by argument types, and (2) survey data from a 20-member review panel that assessed legitimacy and distinctiveness of those websites. Applying ranking, clustering and regression analysis, we found that not only legitimacy and distinctiveness are crucial for transnational ventures, but that they are also positively correlated. Hence, transnational ventures should design their websites to communicate their unique qualities, display customer reviews, provide comprehensive product information, and articulate their value proposition with the help of videos and images and pay attention to cybersecurity. Finally, we conclude with research propositions and managerial recommendations.

KEYWORDS:

• transnational
• legitimacy
• distinctiveness
• claims
• Nigeria
• Canada
• website

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude to the anonymous reviewers and to Bruce Lamont, Editor-in-Chief of the Africa Journal of Management for his diligence and support.

Note: An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 5th Biennial conference of the Africa Academy of Management (AFAM) in Lagos, Nigeria, January 8–11, 2020 and won Best Paper Award, Entrepreneurship & Small Business.

Notes

1 We thank an anonymous reviewer for suggesting this terminology.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Diane A. Isabelle

Diane A. Isabelle, PhD, is an Associate Professor of International Business at Sprott School of Business, Carleton University, and a visiting Associate Professor at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Her research focuses broadly on the areas of science, innovation and techno-entrepreneurship within a global context. Specifically, her research is organized around the following three inter-related themes: (1) International entrepreneurship and ecosystems, (2) Internationalization (International New Ventures and SMEs), (3) Global collaborative research and science, technology and innovation policy. In addition to these themes, she is researching and publishing on technology-integrated and international interdisciplinary experiential learning in higher education. She is actively involved in research projects and collaborations in Africa. Prior to joining Sprott in 2011, Dr Isabelle worked in several senior executive roles related to science, technology and industrial research (Industrial Research Assistance Program – IRAP) at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), the Government of Canada’s premier research and technology organization. She started her career as a project engineer for several multinational firms, including General Electric, Esso and Boeing Aerospace.

Mika Westerlund

Mika Westerlund, DSc Econ, is an Associate Professor at the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University. Previously a technology entrepreneur, he is teaching and educating aspiring entrepreneurs in Carleton’s Technology Innovation Management (TIM) program. Mika is an innovation researcher interested in emerging technologies, practices and phenomena that may have major social, economic, ecological or other types of implications on our current and future societies. His current research interests include open and user innovation, the Internet of Things, social big data analytics, AI & autonomous systems, business strategy, SME, and management models in high-tech and service-intensive industries, among others. He has published widely in both the academic and practitioner literatures in the areas of technology and innovation management, entrepreneurship, and industrial marketing.

Victoria Sajuyigbe

Victoria Sajuyigbe is a Product Marketing Specialist at CMC Microsystems recently, graduated from Carleton's Technology Innovation Management Master program. She holds a BSc in biochemistry from Adekunle Ajasin University, Nigeria.