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Explaining Chinese FDI in Africa: A Longitudinal Configurational Approach Integrating Policy Influences to Traditional FDI Motivations

David Pickernell Orcid Logo, Jae Kim Orcid Logo, Myropi Garri Orcid Logo, Malcolm Beynon Orcid Logo

Management International Review

Swansea University Authors: David Pickernell Orcid Logo, Jae Kim Orcid Logo

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Abstract

Trump's re-election reshaped US geopolitics and trade policy, with significant implications for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), particularly from state-driven economies like China. Understanding how Chinese policy shapes FDI in geopolitically sensitive regions like Africa is crucial. This pape...

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Published in: Management International Review
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70998
first_indexed 2025-11-27T12:06:41Z
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spelling 2026-01-12T12:51:55.8563914 v2 70998 2025-11-27 Explaining Chinese FDI in Africa: A Longitudinal Configurational Approach Integrating Policy Influences to Traditional FDI Motivations 913bd73da00d7df4f5038f6f144b235e 0000-0003-0912-095X David Pickernell David Pickernell true false ec3bd686cb02d42122bb927241d6b451 0000-0002-1055-8652 Jae Kim Jae Kim true false 2025-11-27 CBAE Trump's re-election reshaped US geopolitics and trade policy, with significant implications for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), particularly from state-driven economies like China. Understanding how Chinese policy shapes FDI in geopolitically sensitive regions like Africa is crucial. This paper examines the interplay between traditional FDI motivations and policy influences driving FDI presence or absence in Africa. Adopting configurational theorising, we employ longitudinal, panel fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) across 46 African countries from 2012 to 2018. We find that policy/ political influences are integral to Chinese-FDI motivations. They consistently enable, accommodate, and complement traditional FDI motivations, reducing Multinational Enterprises (MNEs)’ risks and entry barriers, while fostering China’s long-term control over critical markets and resources. For Chinese-FDI combinations of motivations (pathways) drive FDI. The changes in pathways’ strength and geographical coverage are shaped by the presence of political influence and potentially reflect shifts in Chinese political priorities. We contribute to internalisation theory and OLI, by integrating policy/ political drivers into location advantages to explain FDI-motivations. We showcase how Chinese MNEs utilise their ownership advantages to create internationally transferable location advantages, thereby supporting Chinese MNEs and implementing Chinese policy. The longitudinal fsQCA approach to analyse complex, evolving FDI motivations provides new insights into Chinese FDI in Africa. By addressing the nuanced role of economic diplomacy and the Chinese competitive state system, we offer practical implications for policymakers and managers aiming to attract and equitably manage Chinese-FDI, and to predict the future FDI location decisions of China to proactively manage their economic and geopolitical implications. Journal Article Management International Review 0 0 0 0001-01-01 COLLEGE NANME Management School COLLEGE CODE CBAE Swansea University 2026-01-12T12:51:55.8563914 2025-11-27T11:59:48.5337785 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Management - Business Management David Pickernell 0000-0003-0912-095X 1 Jae Kim 0000-0002-1055-8652 2 Myropi Garri 0000-0002-2462-0613 3 Malcolm Beynon 0000-0002-5757-270X 4 70998__35960__9e98f86cb48c4ee28330498c34f7265d.pdf 70998.AAM.pdf 2026-01-12T12:45:26.3661917 Output 1229901 application/pdf Accepted Manuscript true 2026-02-12T00:00:00.0000000 Author accepted manuscript document released under the terms of a Creative Commons CC-BY licence using the Swansea University Research Publications Policy (rights retention). true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en
title Explaining Chinese FDI in Africa: A Longitudinal Configurational Approach Integrating Policy Influences to Traditional FDI Motivations
spellingShingle Explaining Chinese FDI in Africa: A Longitudinal Configurational Approach Integrating Policy Influences to Traditional FDI Motivations
David Pickernell
Jae Kim
title_short Explaining Chinese FDI in Africa: A Longitudinal Configurational Approach Integrating Policy Influences to Traditional FDI Motivations
title_full Explaining Chinese FDI in Africa: A Longitudinal Configurational Approach Integrating Policy Influences to Traditional FDI Motivations
title_fullStr Explaining Chinese FDI in Africa: A Longitudinal Configurational Approach Integrating Policy Influences to Traditional FDI Motivations
title_full_unstemmed Explaining Chinese FDI in Africa: A Longitudinal Configurational Approach Integrating Policy Influences to Traditional FDI Motivations
title_sort Explaining Chinese FDI in Africa: A Longitudinal Configurational Approach Integrating Policy Influences to Traditional FDI Motivations
author_id_str_mv 913bd73da00d7df4f5038f6f144b235e
ec3bd686cb02d42122bb927241d6b451
author_id_fullname_str_mv 913bd73da00d7df4f5038f6f144b235e_***_David Pickernell
ec3bd686cb02d42122bb927241d6b451_***_Jae Kim
author David Pickernell
Jae Kim
author2 David Pickernell
Jae Kim
Myropi Garri
Malcolm Beynon
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hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
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department_str School of Management - Business Management{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Management - Business Management
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description Trump's re-election reshaped US geopolitics and trade policy, with significant implications for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), particularly from state-driven economies like China. Understanding how Chinese policy shapes FDI in geopolitically sensitive regions like Africa is crucial. This paper examines the interplay between traditional FDI motivations and policy influences driving FDI presence or absence in Africa. Adopting configurational theorising, we employ longitudinal, panel fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) across 46 African countries from 2012 to 2018. We find that policy/ political influences are integral to Chinese-FDI motivations. They consistently enable, accommodate, and complement traditional FDI motivations, reducing Multinational Enterprises (MNEs)’ risks and entry barriers, while fostering China’s long-term control over critical markets and resources. For Chinese-FDI combinations of motivations (pathways) drive FDI. The changes in pathways’ strength and geographical coverage are shaped by the presence of political influence and potentially reflect shifts in Chinese political priorities. We contribute to internalisation theory and OLI, by integrating policy/ political drivers into location advantages to explain FDI-motivations. We showcase how Chinese MNEs utilise their ownership advantages to create internationally transferable location advantages, thereby supporting Chinese MNEs and implementing Chinese policy. The longitudinal fsQCA approach to analyse complex, evolving FDI motivations provides new insights into Chinese FDI in Africa. By addressing the nuanced role of economic diplomacy and the Chinese competitive state system, we offer practical implications for policymakers and managers aiming to attract and equitably manage Chinese-FDI, and to predict the future FDI location decisions of China to proactively manage their economic and geopolitical implications.
published_date 0001-01-01T05:34:10Z
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