While previous studies have focused on the specific capabilities and strategies of digital platform-based exporters (DPEs) to improve international performance on digital platforms, limited attention has been given to the timing of their digital platform adoption. This study explores the impact of earliness of international e-commerce on DPEs’ performance outcomes. Drawing upon the perspective of learning advantages of newness (LAN), we argue that DPEs that adopt international e-commerce early can leverage structural, cognitive and positional advantages in learning new knowledge about international e-commerce, and thus enhance their subsequent international growth. The effectiveness of these advantages, however, is influenced by firm size and regional e-commerce competition. Using data from 12,695 Chinese DPEs on Alibaba.com, our analysis demonstrates that earliness of international e-commerce positively influences both firms’ innovation and international sales performance on the platform. These effects are mitigated by firm size, but are amplified by regional e-commerce competition. This research contributes to international business literature by exploring the temporal dimension of digital platform adoption for internationalization and extending LAN theory into the digital platform context.
