The impact of proximity within elite corporate networks on the Shariah governance-firm performance nexus: Evidence from the global Shariah elite

Abstract

Research shows the importance of social networks in the generation of valuable firm resources through informational flows. We extend this conceptualization to Shariah governance and the global Shariah elite as embodied by the Shariah supervisory board. Utilizing a unique dataset of 140 Islamic financial institutions over 2011–2015, across 16 nations, we find that interlocking behavior amongst Shariah supervisory boards is time-invariant and network proximity has an inverted U-shaped curvilinear impact on the performance of Islamic financial institutions. Our findings extend the academic literature on SSB interlocking behavior by disentangling the impact of network proximity on the Shariah governance-firm performance nexus.