A strategic role of multilingualism in international business growth: A case of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Abstract

International business operates in a linguistically and culturally diverse context where multilingualism has become an important tool. Apart from this experience, there are few empirical studies on the contribution of multilingualism to international business growth in emerging markets, including Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Then, this study was meant to scrutinise the influence of multilingual competence on international business growth in Dar es Salaam. This study assessed multilingual practices and their influence on international business growth. A descriptive research design was used, accompanied by a quantitative research approach. A total of 278 respondents were selected through stratified random sampling: business managers, directors, sales and logistics personnel, and customers. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data, which were later analysed using descriptive statistics (correlation, reliability, and multiple regression through SPSS). The findings indicate that the most widely used multilingual practices were language localization, multilingual customer service systems, translation of business documents, digital multilingual platforms, and the use of English as a corporate language. Also, the findings suggest that multilingual practices influence international business growth through enhancing effective negotiation, partnership development, and internationalization efforts. The findings indicate a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.87, a strong internal consistency of the variables. The internationalization efforts exhibited the strongest association with business growth (r = 0.83). The study demonstrates that all multilingual strategy variables explain 60.2% of the variance in international business growth (R² = 0.602; adjusted R² = 0.596), while the overall regression model was statistically significant (F = 96.214, p < 0.001). The strongest predictor was Internationalization efforts (β = 0.388), followed by negotiation effectiveness (β = 0.302) and partnership development (β = 0.289). Therefore, multilingual competencies are the strategic capabilities that reinforce communication, partnerships, negotiation outcomes, and access to international markets. Businesses should therefore integrate multilingual recruitment, language training, translation and localization, multilingual customer engagement, and digital language capabilities into their internationalization strategies. Government agencies should also support businesses through intercultural communication, translation and localization initiatives.