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This study aims to explore consumers' perceptions of stealing thunder and to investigate significant factors for maximizing its effect.

This study used a mixed-methods approach. First, qualitative responses from 286 Korean participants were collected and analyzed (Study 1). Second, the experiment employed a randomized 2 (crisis communication timing: stealing thunder vs thunder) × 2 (transparent vs nontransparent communication) × 2 (follow-up actions: good vs poor) between-subjects experimental design with 426 Korean participants to investigate and confirm the results of Study 1.

Qualitative data showed that the participants' evaluation of corporations' stealing thunder strategy is complicated. Some do not perceive corporate use of stealing thunder at face value, but rather view it as yet another hopeless, selfish and irresponsible crisis communication strategy, distrusting it based on strong cynicism toward all corporations. An experiment confirmed that stealing thunder was significantly more effective in eliciting consumers' ethical judgment (EJ) and word-of-mouth (WOM) on corporations than the thunder strategy. Significant two-way interaction effects between crisis timing and follow-up actions showed that the stealing thunder strategy should be accompanied by follow-up actions to increase consumers' credibility and WOM intentions.

This study investigated how consumers evaluate stealing thunder by adopting both a qualitative and quantitative approach to explore how they make meaning out of this phenomenon.

Drawing on the resource-based view and contingency theory, this study aims to investigate the effects of organizational capabilities – technology capability and marketing capability – on small- and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs’) export performance and the moderating roles of contingent factors in this relationship in the context of a highly competitive export-oriented economy.

The research framework was tested using a three-way stepwise hierarchical multiple regression analysis with data gathered from 531 Korean international SMEs.

In addition to the direct effects of two types of organizational capabilities on export performance, the results show that both capabilities were critical when the export market was competitive, and marketing capability was more important when exporting with a brand name and targeting a developing country.

This study further extends the literature on SMEs’ internationalization in the context of highly competitive export-driven markets and highlights the importance of strategically allocating SMEs’ capabilities to reap optimal export performance by considering dynamic contingencies.

The purpose of this paper is to extend our understanding of the development of small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) organizational capabilities and their contributions to export performance by incorporating two antecedents: one from the internal environment (international entrepreneurial orientation) and another from the external environment (domestic market competition).

A proposed framework built on resource-based view and contingency theory was tested using partial least squares with data collected from 470 Korean SMEs.

International entrepreneurial orientation and domestic market competition both prompted SMEs to develop their technological and marketing capabilities, leading to enhanced performance in international markets. Full mediating effects of technological and marketing capabilities were discovered between international entrepreneurial orientation and export performance.

Given the direct effect of organizational capabilities on export performance, SMEs should facilitate the spirit of international entrepreneurial orientation and heightened managerial awareness of domestic market competition to efficiently cultivate organizational capabilities.

Unique findings indicate that SME capabilities can be optimally cultivated under the coexistence of an internal impetus (i.e. international entrepreneurial orientation) and a harsh external environment (i.e. domestic competition), demonstrating the significance of context in developing organizational capabilities.