Toward a process model of resource orchestration:social capital and qualitative study in family firm innovation

This thesis explores how firms and organisational actors implement the resource orchestration process. Resources are deemed drivers of value creation and interest is growing in the actions that executives take to manage resources. However, empirical research in this area is limited to the analysis of organisational performance while the process of orchestrating resources over time is under-investigated. This thesis includes four theory-building articles and embraces a process thinking approach to provide a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the dynamics underlying resource orchestration. The 18-month empirical investigation took place in a textile district in Northern Italy using ethnographic techniques and multiple-case studies to identify the patterns and processes that resource orchestration entails. Through specific qualitative techniques, the empirical inquiry generated data on the mechanisms that organisational actors employ in activating their social capital, reactivating latent ties and orchestrating resources. To analyse the resource orchestration phenomenon, 67 open-ended interviews were triangulated with 25 non-participatory observations and 500 archival documents. The findings from this research make three significant contributions to the field of resource orchestration and social capital. First, the study demonstrates the potential of the process thinking approach to investigate a broad range of organisational phenomena involving change. Second, by developing social capital and resource orchestration process models, the thesis contributes to literature by providing more nuanced frameworks of the resource orchestration practices and processes. Finally, the study sheds light on the role of time in shaping relationships and the dynamics of latent ties. The results of this study may assist policy makers, practitioners and consultants in considering the critical impact of resource orchestration processes, social capital and the underlying temporal dynamics

Hierarchical dyadic congruence in family firms:The interplay of supervisor and supervisee socioemotional wealth importance and familial status

We extend McLarty, Vardaman, and Barnett’s analysis of how family firm supervisor attributes, in terms of familial status and socioemotional wealth importance, affect supervisee performance by considering the supervisee attributes. We further integrate the concept of restricted and generalized social exchange to provide a theoretical basis for how hierarchical dyadic (in)congruence moderates the relationship between supervisee commitment and performance. By providing a more fine-grained conceptualization, we contribute to the family business literature at its organization behavior interface

Network brokerage:An integrative review and future research agenda

Network brokerage research has grown rapidly in recent decades, spanning the boundaries of multiple social science disciplines as well as diverse research areas within management. Accordingly, we take stock of the literature on network brokerage and provide guidance on ways to move this burgeoning research area forward. We provide a comprehensive review of this literature, including crucial dimensions of the concept itself in terms of brokerage structure and behavior, a set of key categories of factors surrounding the brokerage concept (antecedents, outcomes, and moderators), and an overview of brokerage dynamics over time. We use these dimensions and categories to depict network brokerage’s theoretical and empirical underpinnings as well as evaluate prior research efforts. In so doing, we offer a means to summarize and synthesize this large, interdisciplinary literature, identify important research gaps, and offer promising directions for future research

Innovation in Small Family Firms

Research on innovation in family firms has flourished in the last decades. Nevertheless, most of the current understanding has been developed by studying large organizations, leaving the specific challenges and opportunities of innovating in small family firms still untapped. This introductory article summarizes the studies included in the special issue and integrates their contributions by uncovering four types of innovation that allow small family firms to overcome the liability of smallness. Finally, we suggest directions for future research

Unlocking innovation potential : A typology of family business innovation postures and the critical role of the family system

How can family firms unlock their innovation potential? Despite the recent growth in research on family business innovation, existing literature has yielded controversial findings. Family firms are recognized as more conservative and steadfast to their tradition, however many of the most innovative firms worldwide are family businesses. This points to an apparent willingness-ability paradox in family business innovation. Drawing on family business innovation and family systems literature, we argue that family characteristics are an important yet overlooked driver of this paradoxical tension. We develop the construct of family business innovation posture, and identify a typology of four ideal types: Seasoner, Re-enactor, Digger, and Adventurer. Furthermore, we explore and illustrate with empirical data the necessary fit between the family business innovation posture and family-related dimensions to resolve the willingness-ability paradox. The article examines the implications of the typology for family business innovation research by exploring the effects of intra-family succession, outlining important directions for future research aimed at advancing current understanding of the role of the family in family business innovation, and providing practical insights for family business owners, managers, and consultants

COVID-19 and the future of family business research

Abstract The world is witnessing dramatic changes brought about by Covid-19 and its aftermath, with significant implications for the management of organizations, and hence management studies We argue that the pandemic and its social and economic reverberations are triggering particularly salient challenges for family businesses (FBs) ? the most ubiquitous form of business organization in any world economy ? that call into question some fundamental assumptions at the core of FB researc

The Reconnection Process:Mobilizing the Social Capital of Dormant Ties

Prior research has identified the value of reconnecting dormant ties (i.e., people you used to know), allowing individuals to refresh relationships and mobilize the value inherent in a tie (i.e., its social capital). However, less well understood is how this reconnection process occurs, including how it can be done well or poorly. To address this lack of knowledge, we conducted multi-organizational research combining an inductive, qualitative field study of professional reconnections by individuals in the North Italian textile district (Study 1) and, to validate our findings, a vignette-based experiment with U.S. workers (Study 2). We find that the process of reconnecting dormant ties can and does fail, sometimes dramatically, when people do not refresh the tie and, as a result, do not trust where they stand with each other. Specifically, we find that three elements—remembering, catching up, and perceiving the tie similarly—are key to successfully mobilizing the value of a dormant tie

Managing the tradition and innovation paradox in family firms:A family imprinting perspective

Long-established family firms are endowed with a bundle of beliefs and practices that constitute their tradition. However, to remain competitive, they need to renew their products and production processes. Such forces pulling toward the past and the future, antithetically calling for continuity and change, seem paradoxical. In an abductive analysis of eight long-established family firms in Turkey, we identify four equifinal strategies to manage this paradox. Adopting a family imprinting perspective, we theorize how the long-lasting legacy of previous family generations shapes different approaches to innovation and tradition depending on the content imprinted on the current family generation. Contributing to family business, imprinting and innovation research, we identify the new construct of temporal symbiosis as a firm’s simultaneous adoption of retrospective and prospective approaches to using its resources to concurrently perpetuate tradition and achieve innovation, highlighting its crucial role as a shield of the past and engine for the future