MANAGERIAL TIES AND OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF TOURISM BUSINESSES IN VIETNAM: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF RESOURCE ACCESS

The outbreak of COVID-19 has a negative effect on the operational performance of tourism business. Thus, many tourism firms have stopped operating. Therefore, social networks and access to external support resources are crucial in overcoming the crisis. This study, which is grounded in social network theory, attempts to assess how managerial ties affect operational performance through the mediating function of resource access (RA). The study uses the structural equation modelling (SEM) methodology and includes 212 managers from Vietnamese tourism companies in its sample. The findings show a positive and significant relationship between business partner ties (BPT) and government agency ties (GAT) and operational performance (OP). The study also investigates RA's partial mediating function between GAT, BPT and OP. The results are practical for managers in building relationship networks to increase RA and improve OP. Finally, this study suggests certain limitations and outlines directions for further research.