There is increasing scholarly attention on nationalism, indicating that nationalism plays an important role in the context of international business. However, research on nationalism at the firm level is scarce. In this study, we investigate how firms' rhetorical nationalism affects their cross-border acquisitions (CBAs). We posit that there is a paradox in which firms with a higher level of nationalism are more likely to engage in CBAs but less likely to succeed. We find support for our argument based on a sample of attempted foreign acquisitions by Chinese public firms. Additionally, we discover that the impact of rhetorical nationalism on CBAs is contingent on the target country's nationalism, the national-security industry of target firms, and the institutional distance between the two countries.
