The Boundary Spanning Effects of the Muslim Diaspora on the Internationalization Processes of Firms from Organization of Islamic Conference Countries Andreas Schotter a, ⁎, Dina Abdelzaher b,1 a Thunderbird School of Global Management, 1 Global Place, Glendale, AZ 85306‐6000, USA b School of Business, University of Houston-Clear Lake, 2700 Bay Area Blvd., Houston TX 77058, USA article info abstract Article history: Received 16 January 2012 Received in revised form 14 September 2012 Accepted 15 September 2012 Available online 7 October 2012 While scholarly attention to the role played by diasporans in facilitating cross-country trade has recently increased, the implicitness of this phenomenon has prevented many researchers from examining empirically how these processes actually work. Unlike previous studies that focus on diasporans from specific countries of origin, we take a different perspective on diasporans by looking beyond country boundaries. We focus on religious/cultural groupings, specifically on Muslim diasporans living in the West. We utilize a phenomenological driven qualitative research approach to investigate the effects of Muslim diasporans on the internationalization processes of firms from Organization of Islamic Conference countries in the context of the halal industry. Our exploratory study provides some evidence for (1) the boundary spanner roles played by Muslim diasporans within the halal industry across more than dyadic country contexts and (2) for Rahnema's (2006) triple identity theory. © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Diaspora Boundary spanners Internationalization of Muslim firms Emerging market firms Halal 1. Introduction Previous research often deemed emigration of skilled individuals as a disadvantage for the home country. More recently, scholars began investigating this phenomenon in more detail (Balasubramanyam, 2005; Ramamurti, 2004; Riddle et al., 2010; Sonderegger and Taeube, 2010) and found that the so-called brain-drain is not the only effect of emigration for developing countries. Instead, diaspora communities that originate from emerging market countries are now regarded as important transformational agents for their respective home countries' economies. A special issue of The Economist (2011) that focused on the diaspora phenomenon highlighted how migrant business networks are reshaping the world by providing investments, and often the critical technological and managerial skills needed for economic development. Basch et al. (1994) and Curci and Mackoy (2010) described diasporans as immigrants who build business on their existing multidimensional relationships (family, economic, social, organizational, religious, and political) that span borders. We build on Riddle (2008: 28) and define diasporans as being “…individuals who reside outside of their perceived homeland, whether independent or not…” and regard themselves as members of a national community other than the one provided by their countries of residence, “…a standing retained regardless of the actual status of citizenship inside or outside of their home country.” Sharing strong kinship and common language ties, diasporans are facilitators of information flows, innovative idea transfers, cross border business relations, and financial funds transfers (Riddle, 2008), based on strong sentimental and material links with their respective homelands (Sheffer, 1986). Radhakrishnan (2003) highlights these linkages as the essence of dual identity, a trait that is not observable in every immigrant group. Balasubramanyam (2005:7) observed that “…the social rate of return of a unit of Journal of International Management 19 (2013) 82–98 ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 602 978 7139; fax: +1 602 843 6143. E-mail addresses: andreas.schotter@thunderbird.edu (A. Schotter), abdelzaher@uhcl.edu (D. Abdelzaher). 1 Tel.: +1 282 283 3248. 1075-4253/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.intman.2012.09.002 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Journal of International Management