Title: Cultural distance and Thailand's foreign direct investment attractiveness

Authors: Piyaphan Changwatchai; Siwapong Dheera-aumpon

Addresses: Department of Economics, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand ' Department of Economics, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand

Abstract: Thailand tries to attract more foreign direct investment (FDI) because it is an important driver of economic growth. From previous studies, the effect of cultural distance on FDI attractiveness is ambiguous. This study constructs Thailand's FDI attractiveness index and analyse the effect of cultural distance on Thailand's FDI attractiveness. The results show that cultural distance between Thailand and its source country increases the FDI attractiveness of Thailand. This means that culture differences do not impede the FDI attractiveness of Thailand. To promote new inward FDI in Thailand, the government may educate potential investors about culture in Thailand.

Keywords: attractiveness; culture; cultural distance; FDI; foreign direct investment; Thailand; investment; inward FDI; host country.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMEF.2020.108820

International Journal of Monetary Economics and Finance, 2020 Vol.13 No.3, pp.198 - 205

Received: 20 Nov 2019
Accepted: 09 Feb 2020
Published online: 04 Aug 2020 *

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