Social Capital, Resource Acquisition, and Firm Performance: Evidence from Vietnam's Tourism Sector

Abstract

Social capital is the relationship network between firms and stakeholders for mutual benefit. Based on the social capital theory, the study is carried out to explain the formation of supportive resources and improve the firm performance in response to the crisis after the COVID-19 pandemic. This research explores the components of social capital (formal capital involves government officials, and informal social capital includes relationships with relatives, friends, association members, and business partners) that influence firm performance through the mediating role of resource acquisition (financial and customer resource acquisition) in tourism. The study used Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with a sample size of 207 managers of tourism firms in the Ba Ria -Vung Tau province. The results show that social capital was significantly and positively related to firm performance. In addition, the study also explored the partial mediating roles of financial resource acquisition and customer resource acquisition between social capital and firm performance. The results have brought practical significance for managers to focus on building social capital to increase access to resources to deal with the crisis after the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, some limitations and further research directions are proposed in this study.