Collusive Behaviour, Risk and Performance of Tourism Firms

This paper aims to enrich social network and managerial powers theories by examining the effects of board-CEO friendship ties in tourism firms. Specifically, we focus on the association between the board-CEO social network ties (e.g., serving external boards together or sharing memberships at social organizations) and performance and risk-taking behaviour among tourism firms. The findings show that friendship ties between CEO and board members result in higher risk-taking, lower profitability, and market values. In addition, professional ties (i.e., current and past employment) significantly impact tourism firms’ outcomes, whereas non-professional ties (i.e., education and other social organizations) do not. The findings prevail after controlling for the Covid-19 pandemic. However, friendship ties lead to better information sharing, resulting in more effective decision-making by board members.