THE LINK BETWEEN FAMILY BUSINESS AND INNOVATION: EVIDENCE FROM AN ITALIAN SAMPLE

Family businesses are an alternative organizational typology that crosses all segments, in terms of size and sectors. They are a primary organizational type all over the world and innovation has long been considered vital for their growth and survival. However, research on the linkages between family rms and innovation is scant and lacking empirical investigation. This research begins to fill this scientific gap in knowledge by studying the influence of family characteristics, in the context of family owned firms, on business innovation capacity. The research identifies the differences in innovative behaviour between family and non-family firms; and empirically proves that family firms, contrary to conventional thinking, are more innovative than non-family. The research investigates the matter particularly with reference to the resource perspective, that is measured in terms of the human, social and marketing capitals. Methodologically, the paper combines the knowledge drawn from an extensive literature review with the primary research results of a structured questionnaire survey on Italian firms. The Llach Pagès and Nordqvist (2009) analysis model was employed in the process, and to identify family firms, the AIDA database was utilised, in conjunction with the Chua et al. (1999) principle: that a family firm must also perceive itself to be one.