Does intergenerational leadership hinder the realization of innovation potential? A resource orchestration perspective

ABSTRACT

This study examines the impact of intergenerational leadership on innovative capability and business performance. Applying a resource orchestration perspective to data from 531 family businesses in China, the results suggest that innovative capability is positively related to growth performance of family businesses. Furthermore, family businesses in solo control by one generation demonstrate a higher positive relationship between innovative capability and performance than those jointly controlled by two generations. This suggests that intergenerational leadership hampers the realization of the potential of innovation.

KEYWORDS:

• Family business
• innovative capability
• intergenerational leadership
• performance
• single child policy

Acknowledgments

The early version of this paper was accommodated by the IFERA annual conference 2020. The author would like to thank Prof. Rong Pei, Prof. Yanshuang Li, Prof. Shujiang Yu, and Dr. Xian Zhang for their contribution to data collection in China. The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to Prof. Hermann Frank, Associate Editor of Journal of Small Business Management, and the three anonymous reviewers for their insightful and constructive comments.

Additional information

Funding

The authors hereby would like to express their sincere gratitude to Ernst and Young and International Family Enterprise Research Academy (IFERA), which subsidized the research project reported in this article.