The Influence of South Korea's OFDI under the Effects of Multinational Enterprises' Investment Motivations and Host Country Institutions

Purpose - This study aims to analyze the influence of South Korea's outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) under the effect of both multinational enterprises' (MNEs) investment motivation and host country institutions. Some suggestions are put forward with regard to South Korean MNEs participating in and integrating into the fierce and changeable world of international market competition. Design/methodology - The basic hypotheses are that MNEs' investment motivations and the host country's superior institutions both boost South Korea's OFDI in those host countries. South Korea's OFDI is divided into investment choice stage and investment scale stage. A Heckman two-stage selection model is established for empirical analysis, using the panel data of South Korea's OFDI and related variables, from 2002 to 2019. Findings - (1) The influence on the investment scale of South Korea's OFDI is more regular and noteworthy than the influence on investment choice. (2) In the investment scale stage, there are obvious motivations to seek markets, labor force and superior technology, but not natural resources. (3) In the investment scale stage, the South Korea's OFDI is more obviously attracted by the host country's superior political institutions, economic institutions and legal institutions, but not cultural institutions. Originality/value - The choices of variables and uses of model expand the theoretical basis and empirical method of OFDI research. The results of the empirical study also provide some reference for the transnational investment of South Korean MNEs and the investment policy formulation of the South Korean government.