marginally significantp<0.078
Since we need to test the U-shaped moderating effect of political ties, we mainly focus on the result of the second-order product term in model (4), where the result of the second-order product term of outward internationalization orientation and political ties is positive and significant ( β = 7.433,t = 2.00,p<0.05) and the result of the second-order product term of inward internationalization orientation is marginally significant at the level of 0.1 ( β = 239.4,t = 1.76,p<0.078), indicating that political ties play a U-shaped moderating role in the relationship between internationalization and firm performance, which is supported by H3 and H4.