Mediation of social capital in the effect of collaborative leadership on the performance of tourism companies

The COVID-19 phenomenon led to an increase in the digitalization of the tourism sector, reducing the demand for services and affecting business performance. There is no doubt that leadership plays a fundamental role in the management of organizations. Therefore, it is necessary to delve deeper into the study of the collaborative style to build social capital and measure the impact it can generate on the performance of tourism companies. The influence of collaborative leadership, in its dimensions of resources and work environment, as well as the mobilization of interest groups, on financial and non-financial performance was analyzed, in addition to the mediation of social capital in this relationship. It was carried out under a quantitative approach, not experimenting in the design, taking the data only once, the sample was made up of 782 representatives of Peruvian tourism companies, using self-administered questionnaires and SEM for the analysis. The results indicate that resources and the work environment positively impact financial performance, but not social capital. Furthermore, stakeholder management influences both non-financial performance and social capital. Likewise, it is confirmed that social capital positively affects both dimensions of organizational performance. A partial mediation of social capital was found, as stakeholder management was associated with non-financial performance, with no mediation in the relationship between resources and work environment on financial performance. These findings highlight the need to strengthen collaborative leadership to improve the performance levels of companies that provide tourism services.