Institutional Distance And Outward Foreign Direct Investment : Evidence From Chinese Enterprises' Investment To Countries Along "the Belt And Road"

Institutional difference between China and host countries may be an important factor to hinder Chinese outward foreign direct investment(OFDI).But existing literature ignores the focus on informal institutions and ethnic network.This paper states the theoretical mechanism of the effect of ethnic Chinese networks(ECN)on Chinese OFDI from the perspectives of institutional difference.Using a panel data of China's OFDI in countries along “the Belt and Road”,we found that institutional difference has negative impacts and overseas ECN has a positive impacts of Chinese OFDI in the area.Specially,ECN mediated between OFDI and institutional difference that ECN decrease the negative effect of institutional difference on OFDI.Further tests showed that the positive moderation effect is related to export-oriented OFDI,production-oriented OFDI and resource-seeking OFDI.