While it is widely acknowledged that board ties bring learnings for the recipient firm, there has been little research into the progressive impact of vicarious learning on the type of information that interlocked firms can provide. We utilize the transfer theory of learning and demonstrate that task- and contextual- similarity and temporal-proximity of interlocked firms’ experience are clear distinctions that result in measurable differences in outcomes of vicarious learning. We also find evidence that the role of vicarious learning decreases as firms gain experiential knowledge. We test our theoretical model on the long-term performance of cross-border acquisitions in a sample of 749 transactions completed by Indian firms in 2001-2022. The study adds to the literature on board interlocks by highlighting the importance of heterogeneous information from interlocked firms.
