Technological innovation in family firms

The book illustrates the theoretical and empirical reasons that make technology innovation in family firms a relevant and intriguing topic, as outlined by several literature reviews published in the last decade. In addition, it is pointed out that family firms’ traits suggest that innovation in family firms has unique characteristics, which make innovation in family firms different from non-family firms and therefore worthy of investigation. The discussion of the main issues in family firm innovation will illustrate the research areas in which scholars find a consensus and other areas in which the literature manifests a different result. In order to explore the family firm innovation process, empirical studies will be examined, and the interpretation of the relative results will leverage the main arguments and theoretical frameworks used within the family business literature. The relationship between family ownership and research and development investments is analyzed by using two different theoretical perspectives: Agency theory and socioemotional wealth theory. Empirical evidence on family firm propensity to undertake innovation investment is offered. The analysis aims to investigate the relationship between family ownership and R&D investments and whether this relationship is affected by board structural and demographic diversity.