Abstract:What makes small‐ and medium‐sized family firms (family SMEs) innovative? Some family firm dynamics promote, yet others hinder innovation. It remains unclear whether combinations of family firm dynamics increase innovativeness. Our configurational perspective of socioemotional wealth (SEW) unravels determinants of family SMEs' innovativeness. We conduct a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis with 452 Swiss family SMEs. We categorize SEW dimensions into configurations of necessary and sufficient condition… Show more
“…We extend the applicability of social capital theory in a more specific compendium of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and in the family business context. The discovery of novelty in these MSEW dimensions offers new insights on environmental strategy in the family business, by incorporating the mediating function of capabilities, hence enriching the current literature on the role of MSEW as an antecedent Fitz-Koch & Nordqvist, 2017;Gast et al, 2018) in family business theory.…”
The study advances knowledge in the field of business strategy and the environment by incorporating mindfulness theory into the research on socioemotional wealth (SEW) and its environmental consequences in family businesses. Using an integrative model, the paper investigates the relationship between mindfulness SEW dimensions and family firms' environmental strategies, specifically in developing sustainable products and processes. This study also proposes the firm's capabilities as a mediator in this relationship, while market turbulence is a moderator in the relationship between the firm's capabilities and sustainable products and processes.
The empirical results show that in protecting SEW, specifically in the identification of family members with the firm and binding social ties, mindfulness provides a rich endowment that develops appropriate capabilities to produce sustainable products and processes. While the moderating role of market turbulence is insignificant, we can infer that irrespective of how turbulent (or not) the market is, the firm's capabilities are a key determinant of sustainable products and processes. Our findings offer theoretical and managerial implications for sustainable practices in the family business context.
“…We extend the applicability of social capital theory in a more specific compendium of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and in the family business context. The discovery of novelty in these MSEW dimensions offers new insights on environmental strategy in the family business, by incorporating the mediating function of capabilities, hence enriching the current literature on the role of MSEW as an antecedent Fitz-Koch & Nordqvist, 2017;Gast et al, 2018) in family business theory.…”
The study advances knowledge in the field of business strategy and the environment by incorporating mindfulness theory into the research on socioemotional wealth (SEW) and its environmental consequences in family businesses. Using an integrative model, the paper investigates the relationship between mindfulness SEW dimensions and family firms' environmental strategies, specifically in developing sustainable products and processes. This study also proposes the firm's capabilities as a mediator in this relationship, while market turbulence is a moderator in the relationship between the firm's capabilities and sustainable products and processes.
The empirical results show that in protecting SEW, specifically in the identification of family members with the firm and binding social ties, mindfulness provides a rich endowment that develops appropriate capabilities to produce sustainable products and processes. While the moderating role of market turbulence is insignificant, we can infer that irrespective of how turbulent (or not) the market is, the firm's capabilities are a key determinant of sustainable products and processes. Our findings offer theoretical and managerial implications for sustainable practices in the family business context.
“…To the best of our knowledge, only a few previous studies have addressed the SEW dimensions and their measurement. Gast et al (2018) identified five dimensions congruent with the FIBER scale. Contrary to the aforementioned results, our empirical data show support for a three factor solution combined by family control and identification with the firm, binding social ties, and renewal of family bonds and emotional attachment of family members.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 97%
“…The configurational design has accommodated the complexity of firm performance (MacDougall, Bauer, Novicevic, & Buckley, 2014) and equifinality (Fiss, 2011). For example, Gast et al (2018) argue that individual SEW dimensions are not inherently negative or positive. They suggest five causal configurations of SEW dimensions, showing how their combined effects influence family firm innovativeness.…”
A growing body of research is concerned with how family businesses achieve competi ti ve advantage, yet unique qualiti es that disti nguish family fi rms and nonfamily fi rms are someti mes overlooked. In our study, we argue that socioemoti onal wealth (SEW) may trigger or limit family fi rms' strategic initi ati ves that ulti mately shape their competi ti ve advantage. Therefore, in our study of 193 Polish family fi rms, we investi gate how (SEW) and a fi rm's competi ti ve advantage are associated with a family fi rm context. Our research results reveal that, indeed, (SEW) and competi ti ve advantage are parti ally associated and SEW can be regarded as an important strategic antecedent to fi rm performance.
“…Integrating different innovation levels (i.e., sustaining or disruptive) blurs the picture even more and adds to the already existing complexity and ambivalence of family influence on family firm innovation. A recurring finding in the wider family firm innovation literature is that family firms innovate incrementally rather than radically (Calabrò et al 2019;Nieto et al 2015;Roessl et al 2010) and have less incentive to pursue disruptive innovations (Gast et al 2018;Kraus et al 2018). It is suggested that this is because family firms tend to focus on SEW preservation (Filser et al 2018), avoid risk-taking to protect wealth (De Massis et al 2014), have poorly developed innovation capabilities (Sciascia et al 2015), and exhibit family entrenchment (Anderson and Reeb 2003) and family orientation lock (Herrero and Hughes 2019).…”
Section: Disruptive Innovation and The Family Firmmentioning
The present study investigates how family firms respond to disruptive industry changes. We aim to investigate which factors prevent or support family firms’ adoption of disruptive innovations in their industry and which mechanisms lead to more or less successful coping with disruptive change. Our analysis is based on 24 qualitative interviews with top executives and on secondary data from an industry in which disruptive innovations dramatically changed the way business was generated. The industry in question is the mail order industry, which, in its early days, disrupted the retail business. When the Internet and, with it, ecommerce started to disrupt the industry in the late 1990s, the industry was characterized by a high proportion of family firms and a low level of innovativeness. While incumbent firms had been very successful for decades, most of them were confronted with serious turbulence when new entrants started changing the face of the industry. Our findings show that different factors impact reactions to disruptive industry change in two different phases, namely, opportunity recognition and opportunity implementation. While some of the influencing factors are determined by industry factors, family influence may function for better or worse for incumbent firms. Specifically, we find that in firms with a family disruptor, a family member in a powerful position who drives the adoption of the new technology, hindrances can be overcome and firms tend to show more successful strategies when reacting to the disruptive industry change.
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