Celebrating Success: Dr Vu Trinh (Rainy)

Congratulations to Dr Vu Trinh (Rainy) and his co-authors for two publications.

Rainy and his co-author, Hong Minh Nguyen (Vietnam National University) have had a paper entitled “U.K. Economic Policy Uncertainty and Innovation Activities: A Firm-level Analysis” published in Journal of Economics and Business.

Abstract
Our study investigates the effects of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on firm-level innovation activities. Utilising the news-based government EPU index of Baker et al. (2016) and a panel sample of 350 UK largest firms over the period 1999-2018, we find robust evidence that the government EPU has caused a substantial reduction in UK firms’ investment in innovation activities. Moreover, our results further show that such a lower level of corporate investment leads to a decline in shareholder value, which forms a triangle linkage among EPU, investment, and market value.

Dr Vu Trinh (Rainy) and his co-authors, Prof. Neelu Seetaram (Leeds Beckett University), Prof. Xuan Vinh Vo (University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam), and Dr Kiet Duong (York University) have also had a paper entitled “Collusive Behaviour, Risk and Performance of Tourism Firms” published in Tourism Economics.

Abstract
This paper aims to enrich social network and managerial powers theories by examining the effects of board-CEO friendship ties in tourism firms. Specifically, we focus on the association between the board-CEO social network ties (e.g. serving external boards together or sharing memberships at social organisations) and performance and risk-taking behaviour among tourism firms. The findings show that friendship ties between CEO and board members result in higher risk-taking, lower profitability, and market values. In addition, professional ties (i.e. current and past employment) significantly impact tourism firms’ outcomes, whereas non-professional ties (i.e. education and other social organisations) do not. The findings prevail after controlling for the Covid-19 pandemic. However, friendship ties lead to better information sharing, resulting in more effective decision-making by board members.