By taking insights from the behavioral theory, this study analyzes how performing below aspiration levels influences innovation efficiency. Furthermore, this research analyzes whether firms respond differently to performance pressures depending on certain factors at the organizational 1✉ 2 3 2 1 2 3 level, such as financial slack and family management. Conducting a panel data analysis on 3116 observations of Spanish manufacturing firms over the 2001-2013 period, we find that performing below aspiration levels improves the firm s conversion rate of innovation efficiency in both the short and the long term. Furthermore, this study confirms that two contingencies, namely the levels of financial slack and family management, are quite relevant towards gaining a full understanding of the complex nuances associated with the investigated core relationship.

The aim of this research is to study the moderating role of family management in the relationships between the intensity of research and development and the occurrence of continuous technological innovation and between the existence of technological innovation outcomes and long-term firm performance. The results show that family management reduces efficiency in the conversion of research and development expenses into technological innovation outcomes over time. Our findings also suggest that the influence of family management significantly contributes to improving the effect of the achievement of technological innovation on long-term performance.

Determining what factors influence firm performance constitutes an essential issue in both the management and the family firm research fields. This article, building on the resource-based view perspective, develops a mediation model that involves a unique intervening mechanism, namely, technological innovation efficiency (TI efficiency), with the potential to explain the inconsistencies found in prior work on the ways through which family involvement in management affects performance outcomes. Regression analyses utilizing a longitudinal sample of 1,118 Spanish private firms largely support the hypothesized mediating relationship, revealing that TI efficiency leads to richer firm performance in family firms with active family involvement in management. Overall, our findings help elucidate the black box of performance outcomes within family firms and make several contributions to theory and practice. JEL CLASSIFICATION L25; M12; O32

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This article examines value creation (VC) in the context of privately held family businesses using a value‐based management approach. Namely, this paper assesses the influence of five value drivers (operating profit margin, sales growth, income tax rate, investment rate, and leverage) on the VC of family firms, considering the moderating effect of socioemotional wealth (SEW). Evidence from a sample of 188 Spanish family firms indicates a positive moderating effect of SEW on the relationship between operating profit margin, sales growth, and investment rate, and VC, leading to increases in the value of firms. The results emphasize that the importance of SEW and its variations imply heterogeneous strategic behaviours among family firms, and that economic and emotional goals might be compatible.