IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/asiapa/v42y2025i3d10.1007_s10490-024-09970-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does family ownership reduce exploratory innovation in family firms? The moderating role of the generational stage

Author

Listed:
  • Junjie Guang

    (University of Science and Technology of China)

  • Yang (Eric) Zhou

    (University of Science and Technology of China)

  • Lei Gong

    (Hangzhou Normal University)

  • Li Xia

    (University of Science and Technology of China
    National University of Singapore)

  • Zhiying Liu

    (University of Science and Technology of China)

Abstract

Existing literature suggests that family ownership (FO) reduces exploratory innovation (ERI). Contrary to this conventional view, some family firms are among the world's innovation leaders. Our study aims to reconcile this discrepancy by examining the role of restricted and extended socioemotional wealth in the relationship between FO and ERI. We posit that while FO may inhibit the capacity for ERI due to rigid mental models and cognitive convergence, it fosters the willingness for ERI owing to a long-term orientation. We argue that FO exhibits an inverted U-shaped effect on ERI. Empirical evidence from 938 Chinese-listed family firms between 2011 and 2021 supports our hypothesis. Our findings indicate that FO's influence on ERI is not uniformly detrimental and that a moderate level of FO can promote ERI. Additionally, the latter generational stage (GS) attenuates the inverted U-shaped curve, implying that family firms in the latter GS may exhibit lower levels of ERI. This study offers theoretical and practical insights into FO and technological innovation research domains.

Suggested Citation

  • Junjie Guang & Yang (Eric) Zhou & Lei Gong & Li Xia & Zhiying Liu, 2025. "Does family ownership reduce exploratory innovation in family firms? The moderating role of the generational stage," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 1485-1515, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:asiapa:v:42:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s10490-024-09970-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s10490-024-09970-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10490-024-09970-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10490-024-09970-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:asiapa:v:42:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s10490-024-09970-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.