Conducting an integrated perspective of academic networks and individual elements on tourism scholars’ innovation performance discovery

Abstract

At present, tourism scholars face many challenges in innovation performance improvement, which has been widely considered by society. However, few studies have considered the joint impacts of multiple antecedents at the network and individual levels. Based on a case sample of 1513 Chinese tourism scholars with publications in international journals from 1983 to 2018, this study explores the joint impacts of scientific collaboration networks (SCNs) and individual diversity on innovation performance by a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The research findings are as follow: (1) No single factor can alone lead to the high performance of tourism scholars, but structural holes, tie strengths and knowledge diversity are the key factors. (2) The configurations leading to the innovation performance of tourism scholars include three driving paths (structural holes' control, knowledge-authority driven, and authority-oriented type) and two inhibiting paths (low control-strong ties’ and high position-multichain inhibited type). (3) Alternative and complementary relationships exist between the antecedent conditions of innovation performance of tourism scholars. This study provides a new theoretical perspective and empirical basis to reveal the joint influence mechanism of the innovation performance of tourism scholars. It also helps optimize SCNs and improve academic innovation performance.