Amplifying Value Co-Creation in Small Family Businesses through Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience: Twin Pillars for Intergenerational Decisions and Cohesion

This article examines how artificial intelligence (AI) and neuroscience can jointly amplify value co-creation in small family businesses, whose competitive advantage rests on trust, close relationships and tacit, experience-based know-how transmitted across generations. The study combines a systematic literature review with narrative synthesis and conceptual model-building. Foundational sources were identified through citation tracking, and recent research was captured through a structured Scopus search (30 July 2026) that returned 296 records, of which 24 were retained after screening and quality appraisal and six further records were added through snowballing; a keyword co-occurrence analysis was performed on the full Scopus corpus. The review shows that AI acts as a strategic enabler rather than a mere automation tool, supporting efficiency, customer personalisation, innovation and intergenerational knowledge transfer, although recent evidence (2023–2026) indicates that its effects depend on the mode of family involvement, firm origin, organisational culture and governance. Neuroscience contributes insights into decision-making, creativity, stress and trust in emotionally dense family settings. The bibliometric map confirms that the two literatures have developed largely separately, as neuroscience terms are almost absent from the AI-in-family-business corpus. The article proposes a four-layer conceptual framework in which value co-creation mediates the effects of AI and neuroscience on organisational and family outcomes, moderated by firm-level, ethical and governance conditions, and formulates four working propositions for future empirical testing.