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Motivation Gaps and Implementation Traps: The Paradoxical and Time‐Varying Effects of Family Ownership on Firm Absorptive Capacity

Year: 2019

Type: article

Abstract: We present a theoretical framework of family ownership as a driver of the heterogeneity (between‐firm differences) and variability (within‐firm differences over time) of absorptive capacity (AC). Building on our analysis of the multiple dimensions of family ownership influence on firm behavior and the mechanisms that can shape the firm willingness and ability to acquire, assimilate, transform, and exploit external knowledge, we introduce the concepts of motivation gap and implementation gap to explain why, paradoxically, family ownership can cause both upward and downward divergences in AC. Our contingency framework identifies conditions under which the positive and negative effects of family ownership on AC are likely to prevail and adds a temporal perspective suggesting that AC varies depending on the duration of family ownership and ownership succession.

Source: Journal of Product Innovation Management

DOI: 10.1111/jpim.12503

Authors: Josip Kotlar, Alfredo De Massis, Federico Frattini, Nadine Kammerlander

Institutions: Politecnico di Milano, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Lancaster University, WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management

Language: English

Topic: Family Business Performance and Succession

Subfield: Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

Field: Business, Management and Accounting

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: Mississippi State University, Universität Passau, Copenhagen Business School, University of Colorado Boulder

OpenAlex ID: W2967101409