Overcoming the Ability-Willingness Paradox: How Family Businesses Enable Circular Transformation

Abstract

Addressing environmental crises requires firms to pursue sustainability transformation rather than incremental change. Drawing on socioemotional wealth theory and the ability-willingness paradox, this article examines how family involvement shapes the transformation of family businesses toward circular business models. Using a mixed-methods design that combines survey data from 1,400 Swiss firms with case studies, we identify control-value alignment as a mechanism through which family businesses overcome willingness constraints and enable circular transformation. The findings challenge prevailing assumptions by showing that family involvement can facilitate transformative sustainability change and offer actionable guidance for leveraging governance, long-term orientation, and collaboration.