Interlocking Directorates Network In Firm Performance By Tourism-related Listed Companies

With the deepening of China's economic marketing,the board of directors has continuously developed and improved in practice.Among them,the phenomenon of interlocking director who serves the same director in different companies has become a common phenomenon for listed companies in China.The network of interlocking directorates formed by the concurrent directorship has also become an important part of the inter-enterprise network connection.The social capital implicated during this period directly or indirectly affects corporate governance and firm performance.Due to its unique comprehensive nature,the tourism industry naturally has an outward-oriented corporate network.With the rising status of modern service industries such as tourism in the national economic strategy,and the arrival of region-based tourism era,more and more companies are tourism-related.Also,investment in tourism has been rising in recent years.As the Chinese economy has entered the new normal path,the management methods,organizational structure,and especially the internal governance mechanisms of Chinese companies are facing new environments and challenges.The formation and development of the network of directors of travel-related listed companies in China,as well as the impact to corporate governance and firm performance yet to be explored,studied and verified.Based on the above considerations and previous research,this paper constructs a basic theoretical framework based on social network theory and social capital theory,focusing on China's listed companies in the travel industry,researching into the conclusion and development of its network of interlocking directorates,and exploring the characteristics and impact mechanism to firm performance of its network on the listing of related companies.In this paper,a total of 314 listed companies involved in the tourism sector in the A-shares of the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges during the period of 2012 — 2016 were selected as empirical research samples,and a chain of inter-industry linkage networks was established.Through theoretical analysis and empirical research,this paper examined the assumptions mentioned.The empirical results show that the network center degree,structural holes,and scale of the interlocking directorates network of the tourism-related listed companies all have a significant positive impact on their firm performance.Based on the above findings,consider the current status of the development of listed companies in China and the particularity of the tourism industry,this paper proposes feasible suggestions on improving corporate governance and firm performance by promoting the scale expansion and structural optimization of chain-linked companies of listed companies in the tourism industry.