Joshua J. Daspit is an Assistant Professor of Management in the McCoy College of Business at Texas State University. His research interests include examining family firms, social dynamics, and knowledge. Prior to joining academia, he worked as a senior consultant for an international consulting firm and served as Director of Community Affairs for a member of the United States Congress.
While progress has been made in recent years to understand the differences among family firms, in... more While progress has been made in recent years to understand the differences among family firms, insights remain fragmented due, in part, to an incomplete understanding of heterogeneity and the scope of differences that exist among family firms. Given this, we offer a definition of and review the literature on family firm heterogeneity. A latent semantic analysis of 781 articles from 33 journals identified nine common themes of family firm heterogeneity. For each theme, we review scholarly progress made and highlight differences among family firms. Additionally, we offer directions for advancing the study of family firm heterogeneity.
Despite an increasing interest in understanding the mindset of entrepreneurs, little consensus ex... more Despite an increasing interest in understanding the mindset of entrepreneurs, little consensus exists on what an entrepreneurial mindset (EM) is, how it is developed, or its precise outcomes. Given the fragmented nature of the multidisciplinary study of EM, we review prior work in an effort to enhance scholarly progress. To this end, we identify and review 61 publications on the topic and offer an empirically derived, integrated definition of EM. Further, we examine factors related to EM and offer specific directions for future study. Additionally, we offer broad directions for advancing the trajectory of EM research and conclude with an abbreviated review of pedagogical insights. In all, by offering a definition, reviewing the literature, and highlighting specific and broad directions for future research, we attempt to consolidate and advance what is known about an individual's EM.
International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 2020
To this end, this special issue focusses on examining how institutional forces affect the entrepr... more To this end, this special issue focusses on examining how institutional forces affect the entrepreneurial behaviours of business families, family businesses and groups of family businesses. The field of family entrepreneurship[1] is a relatively nascent area of study relative to the expanded understanding of the causes and consequences of entrepreneurial behaviours (Bettinelli et al., 2014). In their work on family entrepreneurship, Bettinelli et al. (2014) demonstrate theoretically that at least three loci of entrepreneurial behaviours exist in the family entrepreneurship context – individuals, families and family businesses – and that these three loci exert reciprocal influences. Indeed, an individual’s perceptions and subsequent actions are strongly influenced by patterns learned during childhood from their parents and members of their family of origin. Further, families, as constructed social units (i.e. family of origin, family of choice, blended families, etc.), influence their members and are influenced by their members. Finally, the family firm influences the family (e.g. the “enterpriseness” of the firm; see Frank et al., 2019) as well as individuals comprising it (e.g. successor development or new member socialisation). Expanding the scope of research dedicated to outcomes of entrepreneurial behaviours beyond the realm of financial performance, research related to family entrepreneurship seeks to understand the emergence and influences of entrepreneurial behaviours on outcomes such as firm start-up, growth, diversification, CSR and sustainable development, philanthropy, and beyond (Bergamaschi and Randerson, 2016; Randerson et al., 2016).
Corporate Governance: An International Review, 2020
Research Question/Issue: From its inception in the late 1980s and early 1990s, founder-chief exec... more Research Question/Issue: From its inception in the late 1980s and early 1990s, founder-chief executive officer (CEO) research has garnered significant scholarly attention in the strategy and entrepreneurship disciplines, although other fields-such as economics, finance, and family business-have also generated substantial research insight on this topic. Despite this progress, a limited consensus exists on the influence of the founder CEO owing to the fragmented nature of extant research. In this review, we address this fragmentation by reviewing current literature, synthesizing the discipline-specific findings into an integrated framework, and highlighting promising directions for future founder-CEO research. Research Findings/Insights: Using a cross-disciplinary review of founder-CEO research based on 221 articles from 24 academic journals, we synthesize current research and provide directions for future research. Our framework organizes current research on the founder CEO into three broad themes. First, we review and synthesize scholarly work on factors related to the founder CEO during the nascent years of the firm. In the second theme, we review research that explores the impact of the founder CEO on strategic choices and firm configurations. In the third theme, we review the performance consequences of the founder CEO. Theoretical/Academic Implications: This review advances research on the founder CEO by taking stock of insights from various disciplines, highlighting advancements made, and suggesting promising directions for future research on founder CEOs. Additionally, a critical evaluation of current methodological approaches provides opportunities for strengthening the rigor of scholarly inquiry in this area. Practitioner/Policy Implications: This review provides corporate governance scholars and policymakers with a current, multidisciplinary summary of research findings on founder CEOs and their impact on the firm across various stages of the organizational life cycle.
Prior studies find that nonfamily managers enhance family firm performance, yet other studies not... more Prior studies find that nonfamily managers enhance family firm performance, yet other studies note that family firms have difficulty attracting high-quality nonfamily managers, often settling for average-quality nonfamily managers. Given these findings, how is it possible that average-quality nonfamily managers enhance family firm performance? We address this paradox by theorizing that lower-performing, rather than higher-performing, family firms are more likely to benefit from employing nonfamily managers. Using a sample of 324 small family firms, we find that family firms with below-average performance significantly benefit from employing nonfamily managers, whereas family firms with above-average performance do not experience the same benefit. We attribute the difference to the presence of family-management capacity constraints in lower-performing family firms. For family firms with such constraints, the employment of nonfamily managers is more beneficial than it is for higher-performing family firms, which are not bound by these constraints.
We extend transactive memory systems theory from psychology to examine the cognitive interdepende... more We extend transactive memory systems theory from psychology to examine the cognitive interdependence of family and nonfamily employees and its effects on family firm innovation. Using triadic data and dispersion modeling, we find that innovation is enhanced when family and nonfamily employees communicate and when they have a shared understanding of �who knows what�; however, we find unexpectedly that the communication effects differ for family and nonfamily employees, hindering the development of shared knowledge perceptions needed for enhanced innovation. We demonstrate the value in applying psychology-based research to family firm investigations and in investigating microfoundations of family firm innovation.
We extend transactive memory systems theory from psychology to examine the cognitive interdepende... more We extend transactive memory systems theory from psychology to examine the cognitive interdependence of family and nonfamily employees and its effects on family firm innovation. Using triadic data and dispersion modeling, we find that innovation is enhanced when family and nonfamily employees communicate and when they have a shared understanding of 'who knows what'; however, we unexpectedly find that the communication effects differ for family and nonfamily employees, hindering the development of shared knowledge perceptions needed for enhanced innovation. We demonstrate the value in applying psychology-based research to family firm investigations and in investigating microfoundations of family firm innovation.
International Journal of Innovation Management, 2019
Top management teams (TMTs) that work (not so) well together enhance (restrict) the ability of th... more Top management teams (TMTs) that work (not so) well together enhance (restrict) the ability of the firm to leverage capabilities, which affects outcomes such as innovation. Although internal team dynamics at this level have notable effects on the firm, much remains to be understood about how these effects occur. Therefore, we investigate TMT conflict (cognitive and affective) to understand how the firm-level knowledge capability of absorptive capacity (ACAP) is altered as a result of such types of conflict. Further, given that strategic orientations offer guiding principles for organisational behaviours, we suggest that the main effects of conflict are augmented by strategic orientations. Specifically, both entrepreneurial orientation and market orientation are posited to affect the relationship between conflict and ACAP, which expands understanding of the conditions in which TMT conflict affects ACAP. In all, a conceptual framework is developed to offer insight into how TMT conflict affects firm-level ACAP, highlighting differences that are
Family firms are the most prevalent form of business organization in the world. This special issu... more Family firms are the most prevalent form of business organization in the world. This special issue of the Journal of Managerial Issues seeks to advance knowledge about the strategic and behavioral issues and processes aimed to accomplish the transgenerational economic and non-economic goals of these firms. Taking a strategic management perspective, this article starts with a brief overview of family business studies, summarizes the articles in this issue, and discusses future research opportunities to create usable knowledge on this ubiquitous organizational form.
Family involvement in business creates idiosyncrasies in firm behavior that promote long‐term, of... more Family involvement in business creates idiosyncrasies in firm behavior that promote long‐term, often transgenerational, strategic logics that ostensibly align with the motivations and outcomes of corporate entrepreneurship. Interestingly, extant research provides only minimal insight into the heterogeneous nature of corporate entrepreneurship orientations pursued by family firms. To better understand this heterogeneity, we bridge arguments within the family business literature to develop a typology of corporate entrepreneurship in family firms. Our findings provide a reconciliatory approach to this literary diversity and suggest that the varied corporate entrepreneurship orientations of family firms are impacted by the duality of a family's distinct intention to pursue transgenerational succession and the firm's unique capabilities to acquire external knowledge—calling into question the antecedents, modes, and outcomes underlying the strategic impetus of family firms to engage in corporate entrepreneurship.
Heterogeneity among family firms has become an important research topic. This special issue of Jo... more Heterogeneity among family firms has become an important research topic. This special issue of Journal of Business Research contributes to the literature on family firm heterogeneity by specifically focusing on variations in governance. In this introductory article, we suggest that governance-particularly family involvement in firm ownership and management, and decisions concerning human resource practices-is a primary source of family firm heterogeneity. Dimensions of family firm governance are discussed, and four empirical studies are featured that focus on how governance influences the international entry, knowledge sharing, financial performance, and human capital of the family firm. We extend the contributions of these studies by exploring research opportunities related to heterogeneity in family firm goals, governance, and resources.
Although human resource (HR) professionalization can increase family firm performance through the... more Although human resource (HR) professionalization can increase family firm performance through the reduction of moral hazard and adverse selection agency problems, it may introduce a unique agency problem into the family firm: the perception of organizational injustice. As such, our research suggests that the success of HR professionalization is contingent upon how family and nonfamily employees are treated within the firm. Specifically, when bifurcation bias-the asymmetric treatment of family and nonfamily employees-exists, the financial benefits of HR professionalization diminish due to a perceived inequity of treatment within the family firm. Primary survey data collected from CEOs of 123 family firms support the positive relationship between HR professionalization and financial performance. Results further demonstrate that bifurcated monitoring of family and nonfamily employees restricts the professionalization-performance relationship, while equal monitoring strengthens the relationship. The findings illuminate HR professionalization and bifurcation bias as unique sources of heterogeneity in family firms.
Ordinary capabilities contribute to firm core competencies and are prominent drivers of firm perf... more Ordinary capabilities contribute to firm core competencies and are prominent drivers of firm performance. However, our understanding of ordinary capabilities, and how they are leveraged to advance performance in SMEs, remains unclear. We review prior literature and introduce the Customer-Alignment-Operational (CAO) model of ordinary capabilities, which identifies three types of ordinary capabilities: customer, alignment, and operational capabilities. Using data collected from software industry SMEs, we find that CAO capabilities are configured in previously undiscovered ways to enhance firm performance. The findings advance our understanding of ordinary capability types and offer insight into how ordinary capabilities are configured to generate firm value.-* The authors wish to thank Jim Chrisman for his feedback and contribution to the study. Divesh Ojha, Nolan Gaffney, William Carter, and Lisa Dicke are acknowledged for their insightful comments and suggestions on earlier versions of this manuscript. We are also grateful to Daniel T. Holt and Staci M. Zavattaro for conversations that improved the quality of the study. Additionally, Xueni (Judy) Dong is appreciated for research assistance. Portions of this research were funded by the Department of Management at the University of North Texas. Abstract Ordinary capabilities contribute to firm core competencies and are prominent drivers of firm performance. However, our understanding of ordinary capabilities, and how they are leveraged to advance performance in SMEs, remains unclear. We review prior literature and introduce the Customer-Alignment-Operational (CAO) model of ordinary capabilities, which identifies three types of ordinary capabilities: customer, alignment, and operational capabilities. Using data collected from software industry SMEs, we find that CAO capabilities are configured in previously undiscovered ways to enhance firm performance. The findings advance our understanding of ordinary capability types and offer insight into how ordinary capabilities are configured to generate firm value.
Family firm human resource (HR) research focuses largely on examining differences in HR practices... more Family firm human resource (HR) research focuses largely on examining differences in HR practices between family and nonfamily firms or between family and nonfamily employees within family firms. Few studies, however, attempt to explain why these differences emerge. We offer insight into the source of heterogeneous HR practices by investigating attributes of the owning family. We integrate a primary family science perspective, circumplex theory, to describe how an unbalanced family structure leads to unbalanced HR systems in the family firm. An unbalanced HR system is depicted as a form of bifurcation bias, or the asymmetric treatment of family and nonfamily employees via the family firm's HR practices. By integrating and extending circumplex theory into the family firm, insight is offered into how the structure of the family system influences the structure of the family business HR system, thus impacting firm outcomes. Implications for both scholars and practitioners are offered.
The unique form of social capital among family involved in the business, or family social capital... more The unique form of social capital among family involved in the business, or family social capital (FSC), has both positive and negative effects on the family firm. To better understand how FSC exists across family firms and advance related theory, we develop a taxonomy of FSC. Using configuration analyses on two samples of family firms, we find that three clusters of family firms exist, which include firms with Instrumental, Identifiable, and Indistinguishable FSC. The specific configurations of each cluster are noted, and effects on economic and noneconomic outcomes are identified to advance understanding of the heterogeneous nature of family firms.
Familiness, the unique bundle of resources associated with the family's involvement in the firm, ... more Familiness, the unique bundle of resources associated with the family's involvement in the firm, affects firm outcomes; yet, how familiness affects the internal dynamics of the family firm to yield outcomes, such as innovation , remains unclear. To this end, we use a dynamic capability perspective to propose that familiness affects absorptive capacity, a knowledge-specific dynamic capability, through which the firm's innovation outcomes are influenced. Further, we acknowledge how these relationships are altered by the involvement of nonfamily members in the family firm. The conceptual model offered highlights the role of absorptive capacity in understanding how familiness affects innovation outcomes and elucidates the heterogeneity across family firms that results from nonfamily member involvement.
While progress has been made in recent years to understand the differences among family firms, in... more While progress has been made in recent years to understand the differences among family firms, insights remain fragmented due, in part, to an incomplete understanding of heterogeneity and the scope of differences that exist among family firms. Given this, we offer a definition of and review the literature on family firm heterogeneity. A latent semantic analysis of 781 articles from 33 journals identified nine common themes of family firm heterogeneity. For each theme, we review scholarly progress made and highlight differences among family firms. Additionally, we offer directions for advancing the study of family firm heterogeneity.
Despite an increasing interest in understanding the mindset of entrepreneurs, little consensus ex... more Despite an increasing interest in understanding the mindset of entrepreneurs, little consensus exists on what an entrepreneurial mindset (EM) is, how it is developed, or its precise outcomes. Given the fragmented nature of the multidisciplinary study of EM, we review prior work in an effort to enhance scholarly progress. To this end, we identify and review 61 publications on the topic and offer an empirically derived, integrated definition of EM. Further, we examine factors related to EM and offer specific directions for future study. Additionally, we offer broad directions for advancing the trajectory of EM research and conclude with an abbreviated review of pedagogical insights. In all, by offering a definition, reviewing the literature, and highlighting specific and broad directions for future research, we attempt to consolidate and advance what is known about an individual's EM.
International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 2020
To this end, this special issue focusses on examining how institutional forces affect the entrepr... more To this end, this special issue focusses on examining how institutional forces affect the entrepreneurial behaviours of business families, family businesses and groups of family businesses. The field of family entrepreneurship[1] is a relatively nascent area of study relative to the expanded understanding of the causes and consequences of entrepreneurial behaviours (Bettinelli et al., 2014). In their work on family entrepreneurship, Bettinelli et al. (2014) demonstrate theoretically that at least three loci of entrepreneurial behaviours exist in the family entrepreneurship context – individuals, families and family businesses – and that these three loci exert reciprocal influences. Indeed, an individual’s perceptions and subsequent actions are strongly influenced by patterns learned during childhood from their parents and members of their family of origin. Further, families, as constructed social units (i.e. family of origin, family of choice, blended families, etc.), influence their members and are influenced by their members. Finally, the family firm influences the family (e.g. the “enterpriseness” of the firm; see Frank et al., 2019) as well as individuals comprising it (e.g. successor development or new member socialisation). Expanding the scope of research dedicated to outcomes of entrepreneurial behaviours beyond the realm of financial performance, research related to family entrepreneurship seeks to understand the emergence and influences of entrepreneurial behaviours on outcomes such as firm start-up, growth, diversification, CSR and sustainable development, philanthropy, and beyond (Bergamaschi and Randerson, 2016; Randerson et al., 2016).
Corporate Governance: An International Review, 2020
Research Question/Issue: From its inception in the late 1980s and early 1990s, founder-chief exec... more Research Question/Issue: From its inception in the late 1980s and early 1990s, founder-chief executive officer (CEO) research has garnered significant scholarly attention in the strategy and entrepreneurship disciplines, although other fields-such as economics, finance, and family business-have also generated substantial research insight on this topic. Despite this progress, a limited consensus exists on the influence of the founder CEO owing to the fragmented nature of extant research. In this review, we address this fragmentation by reviewing current literature, synthesizing the discipline-specific findings into an integrated framework, and highlighting promising directions for future founder-CEO research. Research Findings/Insights: Using a cross-disciplinary review of founder-CEO research based on 221 articles from 24 academic journals, we synthesize current research and provide directions for future research. Our framework organizes current research on the founder CEO into three broad themes. First, we review and synthesize scholarly work on factors related to the founder CEO during the nascent years of the firm. In the second theme, we review research that explores the impact of the founder CEO on strategic choices and firm configurations. In the third theme, we review the performance consequences of the founder CEO. Theoretical/Academic Implications: This review advances research on the founder CEO by taking stock of insights from various disciplines, highlighting advancements made, and suggesting promising directions for future research on founder CEOs. Additionally, a critical evaluation of current methodological approaches provides opportunities for strengthening the rigor of scholarly inquiry in this area. Practitioner/Policy Implications: This review provides corporate governance scholars and policymakers with a current, multidisciplinary summary of research findings on founder CEOs and their impact on the firm across various stages of the organizational life cycle.
Prior studies find that nonfamily managers enhance family firm performance, yet other studies not... more Prior studies find that nonfamily managers enhance family firm performance, yet other studies note that family firms have difficulty attracting high-quality nonfamily managers, often settling for average-quality nonfamily managers. Given these findings, how is it possible that average-quality nonfamily managers enhance family firm performance? We address this paradox by theorizing that lower-performing, rather than higher-performing, family firms are more likely to benefit from employing nonfamily managers. Using a sample of 324 small family firms, we find that family firms with below-average performance significantly benefit from employing nonfamily managers, whereas family firms with above-average performance do not experience the same benefit. We attribute the difference to the presence of family-management capacity constraints in lower-performing family firms. For family firms with such constraints, the employment of nonfamily managers is more beneficial than it is for higher-performing family firms, which are not bound by these constraints.
We extend transactive memory systems theory from psychology to examine the cognitive interdepende... more We extend transactive memory systems theory from psychology to examine the cognitive interdependence of family and nonfamily employees and its effects on family firm innovation. Using triadic data and dispersion modeling, we find that innovation is enhanced when family and nonfamily employees communicate and when they have a shared understanding of �who knows what�; however, we find unexpectedly that the communication effects differ for family and nonfamily employees, hindering the development of shared knowledge perceptions needed for enhanced innovation. We demonstrate the value in applying psychology-based research to family firm investigations and in investigating microfoundations of family firm innovation.
We extend transactive memory systems theory from psychology to examine the cognitive interdepende... more We extend transactive memory systems theory from psychology to examine the cognitive interdependence of family and nonfamily employees and its effects on family firm innovation. Using triadic data and dispersion modeling, we find that innovation is enhanced when family and nonfamily employees communicate and when they have a shared understanding of 'who knows what'; however, we unexpectedly find that the communication effects differ for family and nonfamily employees, hindering the development of shared knowledge perceptions needed for enhanced innovation. We demonstrate the value in applying psychology-based research to family firm investigations and in investigating microfoundations of family firm innovation.
International Journal of Innovation Management, 2019
Top management teams (TMTs) that work (not so) well together enhance (restrict) the ability of th... more Top management teams (TMTs) that work (not so) well together enhance (restrict) the ability of the firm to leverage capabilities, which affects outcomes such as innovation. Although internal team dynamics at this level have notable effects on the firm, much remains to be understood about how these effects occur. Therefore, we investigate TMT conflict (cognitive and affective) to understand how the firm-level knowledge capability of absorptive capacity (ACAP) is altered as a result of such types of conflict. Further, given that strategic orientations offer guiding principles for organisational behaviours, we suggest that the main effects of conflict are augmented by strategic orientations. Specifically, both entrepreneurial orientation and market orientation are posited to affect the relationship between conflict and ACAP, which expands understanding of the conditions in which TMT conflict affects ACAP. In all, a conceptual framework is developed to offer insight into how TMT conflict affects firm-level ACAP, highlighting differences that are
Family firms are the most prevalent form of business organization in the world. This special issu... more Family firms are the most prevalent form of business organization in the world. This special issue of the Journal of Managerial Issues seeks to advance knowledge about the strategic and behavioral issues and processes aimed to accomplish the transgenerational economic and non-economic goals of these firms. Taking a strategic management perspective, this article starts with a brief overview of family business studies, summarizes the articles in this issue, and discusses future research opportunities to create usable knowledge on this ubiquitous organizational form.
Family involvement in business creates idiosyncrasies in firm behavior that promote long‐term, of... more Family involvement in business creates idiosyncrasies in firm behavior that promote long‐term, often transgenerational, strategic logics that ostensibly align with the motivations and outcomes of corporate entrepreneurship. Interestingly, extant research provides only minimal insight into the heterogeneous nature of corporate entrepreneurship orientations pursued by family firms. To better understand this heterogeneity, we bridge arguments within the family business literature to develop a typology of corporate entrepreneurship in family firms. Our findings provide a reconciliatory approach to this literary diversity and suggest that the varied corporate entrepreneurship orientations of family firms are impacted by the duality of a family's distinct intention to pursue transgenerational succession and the firm's unique capabilities to acquire external knowledge—calling into question the antecedents, modes, and outcomes underlying the strategic impetus of family firms to engage in corporate entrepreneurship.
Heterogeneity among family firms has become an important research topic. This special issue of Jo... more Heterogeneity among family firms has become an important research topic. This special issue of Journal of Business Research contributes to the literature on family firm heterogeneity by specifically focusing on variations in governance. In this introductory article, we suggest that governance-particularly family involvement in firm ownership and management, and decisions concerning human resource practices-is a primary source of family firm heterogeneity. Dimensions of family firm governance are discussed, and four empirical studies are featured that focus on how governance influences the international entry, knowledge sharing, financial performance, and human capital of the family firm. We extend the contributions of these studies by exploring research opportunities related to heterogeneity in family firm goals, governance, and resources.
Although human resource (HR) professionalization can increase family firm performance through the... more Although human resource (HR) professionalization can increase family firm performance through the reduction of moral hazard and adverse selection agency problems, it may introduce a unique agency problem into the family firm: the perception of organizational injustice. As such, our research suggests that the success of HR professionalization is contingent upon how family and nonfamily employees are treated within the firm. Specifically, when bifurcation bias-the asymmetric treatment of family and nonfamily employees-exists, the financial benefits of HR professionalization diminish due to a perceived inequity of treatment within the family firm. Primary survey data collected from CEOs of 123 family firms support the positive relationship between HR professionalization and financial performance. Results further demonstrate that bifurcated monitoring of family and nonfamily employees restricts the professionalization-performance relationship, while equal monitoring strengthens the relationship. The findings illuminate HR professionalization and bifurcation bias as unique sources of heterogeneity in family firms.
Ordinary capabilities contribute to firm core competencies and are prominent drivers of firm perf... more Ordinary capabilities contribute to firm core competencies and are prominent drivers of firm performance. However, our understanding of ordinary capabilities, and how they are leveraged to advance performance in SMEs, remains unclear. We review prior literature and introduce the Customer-Alignment-Operational (CAO) model of ordinary capabilities, which identifies three types of ordinary capabilities: customer, alignment, and operational capabilities. Using data collected from software industry SMEs, we find that CAO capabilities are configured in previously undiscovered ways to enhance firm performance. The findings advance our understanding of ordinary capability types and offer insight into how ordinary capabilities are configured to generate firm value.-* The authors wish to thank Jim Chrisman for his feedback and contribution to the study. Divesh Ojha, Nolan Gaffney, William Carter, and Lisa Dicke are acknowledged for their insightful comments and suggestions on earlier versions of this manuscript. We are also grateful to Daniel T. Holt and Staci M. Zavattaro for conversations that improved the quality of the study. Additionally, Xueni (Judy) Dong is appreciated for research assistance. Portions of this research were funded by the Department of Management at the University of North Texas. Abstract Ordinary capabilities contribute to firm core competencies and are prominent drivers of firm performance. However, our understanding of ordinary capabilities, and how they are leveraged to advance performance in SMEs, remains unclear. We review prior literature and introduce the Customer-Alignment-Operational (CAO) model of ordinary capabilities, which identifies three types of ordinary capabilities: customer, alignment, and operational capabilities. Using data collected from software industry SMEs, we find that CAO capabilities are configured in previously undiscovered ways to enhance firm performance. The findings advance our understanding of ordinary capability types and offer insight into how ordinary capabilities are configured to generate firm value.
Family firm human resource (HR) research focuses largely on examining differences in HR practices... more Family firm human resource (HR) research focuses largely on examining differences in HR practices between family and nonfamily firms or between family and nonfamily employees within family firms. Few studies, however, attempt to explain why these differences emerge. We offer insight into the source of heterogeneous HR practices by investigating attributes of the owning family. We integrate a primary family science perspective, circumplex theory, to describe how an unbalanced family structure leads to unbalanced HR systems in the family firm. An unbalanced HR system is depicted as a form of bifurcation bias, or the asymmetric treatment of family and nonfamily employees via the family firm's HR practices. By integrating and extending circumplex theory into the family firm, insight is offered into how the structure of the family system influences the structure of the family business HR system, thus impacting firm outcomes. Implications for both scholars and practitioners are offered.
The unique form of social capital among family involved in the business, or family social capital... more The unique form of social capital among family involved in the business, or family social capital (FSC), has both positive and negative effects on the family firm. To better understand how FSC exists across family firms and advance related theory, we develop a taxonomy of FSC. Using configuration analyses on two samples of family firms, we find that three clusters of family firms exist, which include firms with Instrumental, Identifiable, and Indistinguishable FSC. The specific configurations of each cluster are noted, and effects on economic and noneconomic outcomes are identified to advance understanding of the heterogeneous nature of family firms.
Familiness, the unique bundle of resources associated with the family's involvement in the firm, ... more Familiness, the unique bundle of resources associated with the family's involvement in the firm, affects firm outcomes; yet, how familiness affects the internal dynamics of the family firm to yield outcomes, such as innovation , remains unclear. To this end, we use a dynamic capability perspective to propose that familiness affects absorptive capacity, a knowledge-specific dynamic capability, through which the firm's innovation outcomes are influenced. Further, we acknowledge how these relationships are altered by the involvement of nonfamily members in the family firm. The conceptual model offered highlights the role of absorptive capacity in understanding how familiness affects innovation outcomes and elucidates the heterogeneity across family firms that results from nonfamily member involvement.
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Papers by Josh Daspit
influenced by their members. Finally, the family firm influences the family (e.g. the “enterpriseness” of the firm; see Frank et al., 2019) as well as individuals comprising it (e.g. successor development or new member socialisation). Expanding the scope of research dedicated to outcomes of entrepreneurial behaviours beyond the realm of financial performance, research related to family entrepreneurship seeks to understand the emergence and influences of entrepreneurial behaviours on outcomes such as firm start-up, growth, diversification, CSR and sustainable development, philanthropy, and beyond (Bergamaschi and Randerson, 2016; Randerson et al., 2016).
family and nonfamily employees and its effects on family firm innovation. Using triadic data and dispersion modeling,
we find that innovation is enhanced when family and nonfamily employees communicate and when they have
a shared understanding of �who knows what�; however, we find unexpectedly that the communication effects
differ for family and nonfamily employees, hindering the development of shared knowledge perceptions needed for
enhanced innovation. We demonstrate the value in applying psychology-based research to family firm investigations
and in investigating microfoundations of family firm innovation.
influenced by their members. Finally, the family firm influences the family (e.g. the “enterpriseness” of the firm; see Frank et al., 2019) as well as individuals comprising it (e.g. successor development or new member socialisation). Expanding the scope of research dedicated to outcomes of entrepreneurial behaviours beyond the realm of financial performance, research related to family entrepreneurship seeks to understand the emergence and influences of entrepreneurial behaviours on outcomes such as firm start-up, growth, diversification, CSR and sustainable development, philanthropy, and beyond (Bergamaschi and Randerson, 2016; Randerson et al., 2016).
family and nonfamily employees and its effects on family firm innovation. Using triadic data and dispersion modeling,
we find that innovation is enhanced when family and nonfamily employees communicate and when they have
a shared understanding of �who knows what�; however, we find unexpectedly that the communication effects
differ for family and nonfamily employees, hindering the development of shared knowledge perceptions needed for
enhanced innovation. We demonstrate the value in applying psychology-based research to family firm investigations
and in investigating microfoundations of family firm innovation.