Unpacking willingness in family firms facing the digital transformation

IF 6.5 1区经济学 Q1 BUSINESS

Small Business Economics Pub Date : 2025-05-24 DOI:10.1007/s11187-025-01057-8

Samuel Appleton, Marco Mismetti, Dominik Matt, Alfredo De Massis

{"title":"Unpacking willingness in family firms facing the digital transformation","authors":"Samuel Appleton, Marco Mismetti, Dominik Matt, Alfredo De Massis","doi":"10.1007/s11187-025-01057-8","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Digital transformation introduces a new set of parameters for firm innovation. Existing literature has found that family firms vary on their willingness to innovate. However, explanations of the factors that lead to a family firm’s (un)willingness to act remain scarce. Even more scarce are studies exploring the family firm’s (un)willingness in the digital transformation. The digital transformation is a promising environmental stimulus to unpack family firm (un)willingness due to its disruptive nature. This research uses a comparative multiple case study of 14 manufacturing family firms. The novel findings identify a variety of dispositions that can be divided into willingness-enabling and willingness-suppressing. Willingness affects how family firms potentially (do not) take advantage of the opportunities provided by the digital transformation. The contributions are twofold. First, the importance of considering the heterogeneity of family firms’ willingness toward digital transformation is highlighted. Second, by identifying the role of dispositions and related mechanisms we unpack the heterogeneity of the willingness. In sum, we provide a much-needed explanation of family firms in the digital transformation.","PeriodicalId":21803,"journal":{"name":"Small Business Economics","volume":"16 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Small Business Economics","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-025-01057-8","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BUSINESS","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Digital transformation introduces a new set of parameters for firm innovation. Existing literature has found that family firms vary on their willingness to innovate. However, explanations of the factors that lead to a family firm’s (un)willingness to act remain scarce. Even more scarce are studies exploring the family firm’s (un)willingness in the digital transformation. The digital transformation is a promising environmental stimulus to unpack family firm (un)willingness due to its disruptive nature. This research uses a comparative multiple case study of 14 manufacturing family firms. The novel findings identify a variety of dispositions that can be divided into willingness-enabling and willingness-suppressing. Willingness affects how family firms potentially (do not) take advantage of the opportunities provided by the digital transformation. The contributions are twofold. First, the importance of considering the heterogeneity of family firms’ willingness toward digital transformation is highlighted. Second, by identifying the role of dispositions and related mechanisms we unpack the heterogeneity of the willingness. In sum, we provide a much-needed explanation of family firms in the digital transformation.

查看原文本刊更多论文

面对数字化转型的家族企业的意愿分析

数字化转型为企业创新引入了一套新的参数。现有文献发现，家族企业的创新意愿各不相同。然而，对导致家族企业（不）愿意采取行动的因素的解释仍然很少。对于家族企业在数字化转型中的（不）意愿的研究就更少了。数字化转型是一个很有希望的环境刺激因素，因为它具有颠覆性，可以解开家族企业（不）的意愿。本研究以14家制造业家族企业为研究对象，采用比较多元案例研究。这项新发现确定了多种性格特征，这些性格特征可以被分为“促成意愿”和“抑制意愿”。意愿会影响家族企业如何潜在地（不）利用数字化转型提供的机会。贡献是双重的。首先，强调了考虑家族企业数字化转型意愿异质性的重要性。其次，通过识别性格和相关机制的作用，我们揭示了意愿的异质性。总之，我们为家族企业的数字化转型提供了一个急需的解释。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Small Business Economics Multiple-

CiteScore

14.10

自引率

9.40%

发文量

124

期刊介绍： Small Business Economics: An Entrepreneurship Journal (SBEJ) publishes original, rigorous theoretical and empirical research addressing all aspects of entrepreneurship and small business economics, with a special emphasis on the economic and societal relevance of research findings for scholars, practitioners and policy makers. SBEJ covers a broad scope of topics, ranging from the core themes of the entrepreneurial process and new venture creation to other topics like self-employment, family firms, small and medium-sized enterprises, innovative start-ups, and entrepreneurial finance. SBEJ welcomes scientific studies at different levels of analysis, including individuals (e.g. entrepreneurs'' characteristics and occupational choice), firms (e.g., firms’ life courses and performance, innovation, and global issues like digitization), macro level (e.g., institutions and public policies within local, regional, national and international contexts), as well as cross-level dynamics. As a leading entrepreneurship journal, SBEJ welcomes cross-disciplinary research. Officially cited as: Small Bus Econ