The innovation paradox of family firms an innovation form-based analysis of "willingness factors"

• Autor(a) principal: Hokamp, Freya Grosse
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/104557
• topic: Family firm innovation; Innovation paradox; Ability and willingness paradox; Willingness factors; Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Economia e Gestão

Family firms tend toinvest fewer resources in innovation than their non-family counterparts. While it is knownthat thisinnovation restraint results rather from afirm’s willingnessthan itsability to invest in innovation, there is little explanation as towhere specifically this insufficient willingness in family firms stems from. This thesis draws on this research gap and examines family-firm specificcharacteristics and their potential impact on willingness, so-called willingness factors. Besides theirrelevance, the willingness factors are being assessed in regard to closed and open innovation, sincethe form of innovation is thought to influence the willingness factors.Opposed to the prevailingresearch opinion, open innovation is not found to hinder willingnessin the context of family firms. In fact, thepractical findings demonstrate that it cannot be determined whether closed or open innovation are generally moreeffectiveto influence a family firm’s willingnessas the willingness factorsvary not only in terms of their general relevance but also regarding their relevanceto each other(their weighting).This study furthermore found, that this weightingchanges along with the awareness of the innovation forms’ benefits –which in practice are found to be only partly known. Yet, understanding the factors’ relevance and being aware of theinnovation form’s benefits is pivotal for family firms to choose the form of innovation that matches its willingness best. Educating and encouraging family firms to receive individual consultation can assist in overcoming innovation restraints and solvingthe innovation paradox.