The Reciprocal Relationship of Innovation Capabilities and Socioemotional Wealth in a Family Firm

Abstract

This paper deals with entrepreneurship in family firms by researching how technology‐based innovation capabilities influence the socioemotional dimensions of the owning family and vice versa. In combination with dynamic capabilities, the socioemotional wealth (SEW) perspective offers a framework that enables an investigation of the nature of innovation capabilities in family firms. Studying a single firm, we identify a positive reciprocal relationship between innovation capabilities and SEW. We find that this reciprocal relationship within the family business presents itself in a synergistic fashion, yielding synergies between financial wealth and SEW. The findings contribute to the literature on entrepreneurship and innovation in family businesses.

Mindfulness, socioemotional wealth, and environmental strategy of family businesses

“…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.…”

“…Emotional attachment through the creation of intimate relationships promotes the mindful behavior of considering the perspectives of others, sensitivity to their needs and contexts, and adapting accordingly (Burgoon, Berger, & Waldron, ; Sternberg, ). Prior studies in the field of psychology also show that mindfulness is related to emotional attachment and produces many positive outcomes, such as relationship satisfaction, well‐being, and self‐esteem (Barnes, Brown, Krusemark, Campbell, & Rogge, ; Brown & Ryan, ). Renewal of family bonds through dynastic succession is the desire to hand the firm down to future generations, where the founders/owners strive to preserve their legacy and safeguard continued family control through intergenerational succession (e.g., Fitz‐Koch & Nordqvist, ; Zellweger, Nason & Nordqvist, ). Succession usually results in many conflicting issues in family businesses (De Massis, Chua, & Chrisman, ; Miller, Steier, & Le Breton‐Miller, ), thus it requires careful planning.…”

Researching Entrepreneurship in Family Firms

“…Fitz‐Koch and Nordqvist () have explored how technology‐based innovation capabilities influence the socioemotional dimensions of the owning family and vice versa. Studying a single case, they identified a majority of positive reciprocal relationships between innovation capabilities (sensing, seizing, and transforming) and SEW dimensions (family control and influence, identification, binding ties, emotional attachment and renewal of bonds through family succession).…”

“…Papers were reviewed according to standard JSBM procedures and Table summarizes the papers in this issue that successfully negotiated this process. Three papers investigated a specific type of entrepreneurship in family business, either innovation (Fitz‐Koch and Nordqvist ), corporate venturing (Brumana, Minola, Garrett, and Digan, ) or portfolio entrepreneurship (Cruz and Justo ). One paper proposes a typology of corporate entrepreneurship orientations in family firms (Randolph, Li, and Daspit ).…”

“…The selection of papers provided a balanced portfolio of articles in terms of type of research questions and type of study. Two papers address “how” questions (Fitz‐Koch and Nordqvist ; Brumana et al ) and two “what” questions (Cruz and Justo ; Randolph, Li, and Daspit ). Two papers are conceptual (Brumana et al ; Randolph, Li, and Daspit ) and two are empirical.…”