| This research incorporates three research streams to investigate the relationship between prejudice toward foreigners and the decision to explore the feasibility of exporting in Small to Medium (SME) companies. These are the theory of reasoned action, the Bogardus social distance scale, and the export decision literature. Prejudice toward foreigners has never been a subject in the international business literature.; The theoretical basis is the theory of reasoned action. This theory posits that a given behavior can be predicted when the individual's intention toward performing the behavior is known. Intention is composed of attitude toward the behavior and expectations about outcomes from performing the behavior. The theory also posits that other intervening variables, specific to the behavior being studied, may or may not have an influence. The intervening variables proposed for study are prejudice toward foreigners and management characteristics (objective and subjective).; The Bogardus social distance scale is a measure of social distance, or prejudice, toward out groups. In this case, the out group consists of foreigners from specific countries. Characteristics include age, educational level, fluency in foreign language ability, foreign leisure travel, rigidity and willingness to change.; A pilot study was used to determine which characteristics should be included in the research survey, as-well-as to test the survey instrument for validity and reliability. As a result of the pilot study, rigidity and willingness to change were eliminated. The results of factor analysis grouped the survey variables into four logical groups of attitude and expectation variables, objective characteristics, developed countries and, less developed countries. A second evaluation of the instrument, after the survey, produced the same results.; Correlation analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between the dependent variable, intent, and the independent variables. Additionally, the social distance scores of this research were compared to past social distance studies. Although the hypothesized relationship between prejudice and the exploration decision could not be supported, SME decision makers were found to have higher social distance scores than participants in previous social psychology studies. A logistic regression model identified attitude and expectations as the most significant predictors of the decision to explore export feasibility. |
