Family Influence and Digital Business Model Innovation: The Enabling Role of Dynamic Capabilities

Abstract

New digital technologies have prompted many firms, including family firms, to innovate their business models. We study the role of dynamic capabilities as mediator in the relationship between family influence and digital business model innovation (BMI), and the moderating role of environmental dynamism. Based on unique survey data from 1,444 German firms with and without family influence, we reveal that knowledge exploitation, risk management, and marketing capabilities mediate the positive relationship between family influence and digital BMI. Surprisingly, and contrary to our assumption, we find that the positive relationship between family influence and dynamic capabilities is weakened rather than strengthened by environmental dynamism. Our findings hold important implications for family business innovation and digital BMI research, offering valuable insights into the role of dynamic capabilities and environmental dynamism in the digital economy.

Exogenous shocks and the adaptive capacity of family firms: exploring behavioral changes and digital technologies in the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…Research on family firms has stressed that these businesses are usually characterized by long‐term orientation (Diaz‐Moriana et al, 2020), rigid mental models that are often associated with paternalistic leadership styles (König et al, 2013), higher ability yet lower willingness to engage in technological innovation (Chrisman et al, 2015a), which is linked to an inward focus on technological developments (De Massis et al, 2015) and difficulties in utilizing digital technologies (Soluk and Kammerlander, 2021). Challenging this body of knowledge, we reveal that these aspects are dependent on environmental conditions (Soluk et al, 2021) and can be dramatically altered by exogenous shocks. In times of crisis, family firms may exhibit a short‐term orientation, reject rigid mental models and become more willing to engage in technological innovation, create new forms of cooperation, and unbureaucratically develop new digital business opportunities.…”

“…However, extant family firm innovation research also shows that despite their resource constraints, family firms rely on noneconomic resources to remain competitive and overcome environmental change (De Massis et al, 2018a; Calabrò et al, 2019; Haynes et al, 2019; Soluk et al, 2021). In particular, family firms benefit from their efficient decision‐making processes (Duran et al, 2016), which are facilitated by their combination of ownership and management (König et al, 2013), their entrepreneurial orientation (Zahra et al, 2004), their ability to internalize and reinterpret knowledge that pertains to the family firm’s tradition (Chirico and Salvato, 2008; De Massis et al, 2016; Kotlar et al, 2020; Soluk et al, 2021), and their access to long‐serving, loyal employees (Miller and Le Breton‐Miller, 2006). This tension between lower inclination (impediments) and higher ability (enablers) in family firm innovation has been labeled the “ability and willingness paradox” (Chrisman et al, 2015a), which refers to family firms’ superior ability but lower willingness to engage in innovation.…”

Entrepreneurial Psychological Quality and Quality Cultivation of College Students in the Higher Education and Moral Education Perspectives

“…Third, a structural equation model is established through AMOS 22.0 to explore the chain effect of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial alertness between cognitive flexibility and opportunistic entrepreneurial intention, thereby verifying the hypotheses proposed above. Besides, the bias-corrected Bootstrap is performed to test the significance of mediating effect (Soluk et al, 2021 ). The chained mediating effect of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial alertness in entrepreneurial traits and entrepreneurial attitude is explored through hypothesis testing and model verification.…”

Research on Digital Business Model Innovation Based on Emotion Regulation Lens

“…Digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence, brain-computer interfaces technology and big data, are changing entrepreneurial behaviors and outcomes fundamentally, including recognize and regulate emotion using advanced artificial intelligence brain-computer interface to avoid the bias caused by subjective emotion, and creating a new business model (BMI) through the combination of BMI with digital technology, which is labeled as digital BMI (e.g., Fichman et al, 2014 ; Remane et al, 2017 ). We follow Soluk et al (2021) in defining it as “a significantly new way of creating and capturing the business value that is embodied in or enabled by digital technologies.” Practice shows that more and more new ventures have achieved rapid growth through digital BMI. Examples of digital business model innovators include Tik Tok, which develops a unique business proposition through building social networking and video-sharing platforms to deliver a new way to create value for consumers ( Ma and Hu, 2021 ).…”

“…Similarly, some theoretical studies have also revealed the importance of digital BMI to long-term business success ( Remane et al, 2017 ; Sorescu, 2017 ; Teece, 2018 ). However, as yet, we have a limited understanding on how emotion influence digital BMI emerge ( Soluk et al, 2021 ). To address this gap, we explore the factors that influence digital BMI from the individual-level emotion lens.…”