Rooted for innovation: How family businesses harness local knowledge

Publication Type

Conference Proceeding Article

Publication Date

7-2025

Abstract

The family firm literature have emphasized that family firms differ from nonfamily firms in their willingness and ability to engage in internal innovation activities. This study extends the existing literature by examining and comparing the external knowledge acquisition strategies of family and nonfamily firms. Our findings reveal that family firms, particularly those led by a family CEO, are more likely than nonfamily firms to acquire knowledge from their local region. Moreover, this localized knowledge acquisition leads to higher-quality innovation in family firms. This study contributes to the understanding of family firms’ external knowledge acquisition strategies and highlights the heterogeneity in firms’ ability to leverage localized knowledge for innovation.

Discipline

Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations | Strategic Management Policy

Research Areas

Strategy and Organisation

Publication

Proceedings of the 85th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (AOM 2025), Copenhagen, Denmark, July 25-29

Identifier

10.5465/AMPROC.2025.24813abstract

City or Country

Denmark

Comments

This paper was also presented at the IFERA 2024 Annual Conference (Carcavelos, Portugal, June 2024).

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.5465/AMPROC.2025.24813abstract

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