Non-Home-Base Internationalization and Firm Performance in the Hospitality Industry: The Moderating Role of Board Capital

This study investigates the effects of non-home-base internationalization on firm performance in the hospitality industry and the role of board capital as a moderator. Using 387 firm-year observations of U.S. publicly traded hospitality firms from 2010 to 2021, the analysis employs a random-effects model integrated with the Gaussian Copula approach. The findings reveal a positive relationship between non-home-base internationalization and firm performance. In terms of the moderating effects, boards with industry- and firm-specific human capital significantly strengthen this relationship, while generic human capital and social capital do not show significant moderating effects. This study addresses a gap in the literature by examining how firms perform when expanding into markets where they lack prior management experience beyond their established home bases. It contributes to the tourism and hospitality literature by introducing and empirically validating the concept of non-home-base internationalization.