Selected opportunities for knowledge management research in family firms
| Building blocks of the integrative framework | Dimensions | Questions for future research |
|---|---|---|
| KM facets | ||
| Knowledge creation | ||
| How does family heterogeneity in terms of family structures, functions, interactions, and events affect knowledge creation processes? | ||
| How do these family structures, functions, interactions, and events influence the willingness toward the internal (STI, DUI) or external (cooperations, M&A, venturing) knowledge creation processes? | ||
| How does family involvement in TMT in terms of horizontal (proportion of family senior managers) and vertical (number of generations involved) distance influence the knowledge locus (i.e. spatially and/or temporally and/or culturally distant from current knowledge base)? | ||
| What family-related factors and contingencies determine the way knowledge creation is operationally managed? | ||
| How do willingness and ability towards knowledge creation evolve and interact over time? Does the family’s influence on knowledge creation processes in family firms change with time, especially as later generations take over? If yes, how and why? | ||
| Knowledge storage | ||
| How do family firms store implicit and explicit knowledge? | ||
| Does the family’s influence by means of storytelling influence the knowledge storage process? Does this influence change with time, especially as later generations take over? | ||
| How do organizational memories influence the knowledge storage process in family firms? | ||
| How do family firms retrieve in the business the knowledge that has been already stored in the family? | ||
| How do the social interactions processes between family-centered and business-centered organizational goals determine the knowledge storage in family firms? | ||
| What is the role played by a family’s and/or a family firm’s history in shaping knowledge storage in family firms? | ||
| Knowledge sharing | ||
| How do the differences and complementarities of family members’ and non-family members’ backgrounds and expertise influence the knowledge sharing process? | ||
| How do the differences and complementary backgrounds and expertise of family members belonging to different generations influence the knowledge sharing process? | ||
| What is the role of social dynamics (such as social exchange, social comparison and social identity processes) in knowledge-sharing processes within family firms and with externals? | ||
| How does family firms’ embeddedness in a local innovation ecosystem affect knowledge sharing and its outcomes? | ||
| How does knowledge sharing affect family business relationships with external (e.g. supply chain) partners and their transactions (e.g. speed of decisions, locus of control and so forth)? | ||
| How does collaborative innovation happen in FFs? What are the micro-level barriers and challenges for knowledge sharing necessary for open and collaborative innovation in FFs? How do such effects evolve over time? | ||
| Do intergenerational tensions result in difficulties with knowledge sharing? How do family firms reconcile these tensions? | ||
| How does a succession process influence the knowledge transfer across generations in family firms? And, how does the knowledge sharing between the predecessor and the new CEO influence the success of a succession process? | ||
| How can family firms leverage social capital to cooperate with other firms for knowledge sharing? | ||
| Knowledge application | ||
| How does the knowledge application process destabilize family firm logics and routines, and how is the family system subsequently re-stabilized? | ||
| What are the non-economic outcomes of knowledge application in family firms? How do they affect subsequent knowledge creation processes? | ||
| How do family businesses manage the temporal symbiosis? How do they balance the tensions between tradition and new knowledge to succeed in the knowledge application process? | ||
| What are the non-economic outcomes of family firm KM? How do they affect subsequent KM decisions? | ||
| How do differences across KM facets in family firms shape differently different types of innovation (e.g. product/service vs process vs business model innovation)? | ||
| Are family firms in a better position than their nonfamily counterparts when applying knowledge to obtain specific types of innovation? If yes, for what types? | ||
| How important is balancing traditional and new knowledge for the outcomes of knowledge application in family firms? | ||
| Behavioral triggers | ||
| Family willingness | ||
| How do older generations’ behaviors affect the ability and willingness of the next generation to join the knowledge creation process? | ||
| When and how is consensus achieved on KM decisions among family members? And within the board and TMT? | ||
| How do family characteristics affect the willingness and ability of family firms to successfully engage in different KM phases? | ||
| What family-related factors and contingencies determine the way KM is operationally managed? | ||
| Family ability as discretion | ||
| How do the differences and complementarities of family members’ backgrounds of different generations influence the capability of knowledge creation? | ||
| How do the individual goals of family and non-family members affect KM? | ||
| Does family harmony spur or hamper the different KM phases? How? | ||
| What are the benefits and risks of family owners’ emotional attachment and power that may influence the KM process of a family firm? How do such effects evolve over time? | ||
| Family ability as resources | ||
| How do family values affect knowledge in the different KM phases? | ||
| What factors enhance or prevent the development of KM and decision-making in family businesses? | ||
| What are the components of family and organizational culture that are at work in promoting, designing and implementing KM systems? | ||
| How do capabilities and attitudes towards KM evolve and interact over time? Does the family’s influence on KM processes in family firms change with time, especially as later generations take over? If yes, how and why? | ||
| The role of context | ||
| Governance factors | ||
| How do the KM outcomes of a family firm influence family involvement in the business? | ||
| Does the ownership dispersion influence the different KM phases in family firms? | ||
| Does a family member CEO foster or hamper a successful KM in family firms? | ||
| What are the various (formal and informal) configurations of KM and decision-making in different types of family businesses (e.g. closely held vs dispersedly owned, early vs later generation family firms, etc.)? | ||
| Does the family involvement in TMT/board influence KM in family firms? | ||
| How does the generation in control influence the different KM phases in family firms? | ||
| How do relationships within the family as well as between family and non-family members change over time? How do they affect family firm KM? | ||
| How does achieving consensus among family members and within the board/TMT change over time and affect KM phases? | ||
| What is the interplay of boards/TMTs demographic characteristics (e.g. board/TMT composition) and boards/TMTs organizational design configurations in shaping KM processes and outcomes? | ||
| Temporal and situational factors | ||
| How do KM phases intersect with other FF processes (e.g. successions)? | ||
| How do family dynamics during generational succession affect family firm KM? Are next generations more inclined to reconsider the KM designed by earlier generations? | ||
| Are family firms more equipped for knowledge creation and application during downturns and environmental jolts than non-family firms? | ||
| How have the health and economic crises during and in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic affected family firm KM drivers, phases and outcomes in family firms? | ||
| How does a relevant family event (e.g. divorce, marriage, death, illness) influence KM in family firms? | ||
| How does the KM destabilize family firm logics and routines, and how is the family system subsequently re-stabilized? | ||
| How do KM phases unfold over time? | ||
| How does a succession process impact on the KM in family firms? Is it equal for internal or external successors? | ||
| Environmental factors | ||
| How does KM change during the distinct family/business lifecycles? | ||
| Does digitalization foster or hamper the KM in family firms? | ||
| How does succession shape different KM facets? What are the differences between intra-family and external succession? | ||
| Resources | ||
| Does the long-term orientation of FFs influence their KM performance/outcomes in the long run? | ||
| What can a family firm learn from its KM? And from each KM phase? | ||
| How do emotions affect KM decisions and phases? |
| Building blocks of the integrative framework | Dimensions | Questions for future research |
|---|---|---|
| KM facets | ||
| Knowledge creation | ||
| How does family heterogeneity in terms of family structures, functions, interactions, and events affect knowledge creation processes? | ||
| How do these family structures, functions, interactions, and events influence the willingness toward the internal (STI, DUI) or external (cooperations, M&A, venturing) knowledge creation processes? | ||
| How does family involvement in TMT in terms of horizontal (proportion of family senior managers) and vertical (number of generations involved) distance influence the knowledge locus (i.e. spatially and/or temporally and/or culturally distant from current knowledge base)? | ||
| What family-related factors and contingencies determine the way knowledge creation is operationally managed? | ||
| How do willingness and ability towards knowledge creation evolve and interact over time? Does the family’s influence on knowledge creation processes in family firms change with time, especially as later generations take over? If yes, how and why? | ||
| Knowledge storage | ||
| How do family firms store implicit and explicit knowledge? | ||
| Does the family’s influence by means of storytelling influence the knowledge storage process? Does this influence change with time, especially as later generations take over? | ||
| How do organizational memories influence the knowledge storage process in family firms? | ||
| How do family firms retrieve in the business the knowledge that has been already stored in the family? | ||
| How do the social interactions processes between family-centered and business-centered organizational goals determine the knowledge storage in family firms? | ||
| What is the role played by a family’s and/or a family firm’s history in shaping knowledge storage in family firms? | ||
| Knowledge sharing | ||
| How do the differences and complementarities of family members’ and non-family members’ backgrounds and expertise influence the knowledge sharing process? | ||
| How do the differences and complementary backgrounds and expertise of family members belonging to different generations influence the knowledge sharing process? | ||
| What is the role of social dynamics (such as social exchange, social comparison and social identity processes) in knowledge-sharing processes within family firms and with externals? | ||
| How does family firms’ embeddedness in a local innovation ecosystem affect knowledge sharing and its outcomes? | ||
| How does knowledge sharing affect family business relationships with external (e.g. supply chain) partners and their transactions (e.g. speed of decisions, locus of control and so forth)? | ||
| How does collaborative innovation happen in FFs? What are the micro-level barriers and challenges for knowledge sharing necessary for open and collaborative innovation in FFs? How do such effects evolve over time? | ||
| Do intergenerational tensions result in difficulties with knowledge sharing? How do family firms reconcile these tensions? | ||
| How does a succession process influence the knowledge transfer across generations in family firms? And, how does the knowledge sharing between the predecessor and the new CEO influence the success of a succession process? | ||
| How can family firms leverage social capital to cooperate with other firms for knowledge sharing? | ||
| Knowledge application | ||
| How does the knowledge application process destabilize family firm logics and routines, and how is the family system subsequently re-stabilized? | ||
| What are the non-economic outcomes of knowledge application in family firms? How do they affect subsequent knowledge creation processes? | ||
| How do family businesses manage the temporal symbiosis? How do they balance the tensions between tradition and new knowledge to succeed in the knowledge application process? | ||
| What are the non-economic outcomes of family firm KM? How do they affect subsequent KM decisions? | ||
| How do differences across KM facets in family firms shape differently different types of innovation (e.g. product/service vs process vs business model innovation)? | ||
| Are family firms in a better position than their nonfamily counterparts when applying knowledge to obtain specific types of innovation? If yes, for what types? | ||
| How important is balancing traditional and new knowledge for the outcomes of knowledge application in family firms? | ||
| Behavioral triggers | ||
| Family willingness | ||
| How do older generations’ behaviors affect the ability and willingness of the next generation to join the knowledge creation process? | ||
| When and how is consensus achieved on KM decisions among family members? And within the board and TMT? | ||
| How do family characteristics affect the willingness and ability of family firms to successfully engage in different KM phases? | ||
| What family-related factors and contingencies determine the way KM is operationally managed? | ||
| Family ability as discretion | ||
| How do the differences and complementarities of family members’ backgrounds of different generations influence the capability of knowledge creation? | ||
| How do the individual goals of family and non-family members affect KM? | ||
| Does family harmony spur or hamper the different KM phases? How? | ||
| What are the benefits and risks of family owners’ emotional attachment and power that may influence the KM process of a family firm? How do such effects evolve over time? | ||
| Family ability as resources | ||
| How do family values affect knowledge in the different KM phases? | ||
| What factors enhance or prevent the development of KM and decision-making in family businesses? | ||
| What are the components of family and organizational culture that are at work in promoting, designing and implementing KM systems? | ||
| How do capabilities and attitudes towards KM evolve and interact over time? Does the family’s influence on KM processes in family firms change with time, especially as later generations take over? If yes, how and why? | ||
| The role of context | ||
| Governance factors | ||
| How do the KM outcomes of a family firm influence family involvement in the business? | ||
| Does the ownership dispersion influence the different KM phases in family firms? | ||
| Does a family member CEO foster or hamper a successful KM in family firms? | ||
| What are the various (formal and informal) configurations of KM and decision-making in different types of family businesses (e.g. closely held vs dispersedly owned, early vs later generation family firms, etc.)? | ||
| Does the family involvement in TMT/board influence KM in family firms? | ||
| How does the generation in control influence the different KM phases in family firms? | ||
| How do relationships within the family as well as between family and non-family members change over time? How do they affect family firm KM? | ||
| How does achieving consensus among family members and within the board/TMT change over time and affect KM phases? | ||
| What is the interplay of boards/TMTs demographic characteristics (e.g. board/TMT composition) and boards/TMTs organizational design configurations in shaping KM processes and outcomes? | ||
| Temporal and situational factors | ||
| How do KM phases intersect with other FF processes (e.g. successions)? | ||
| How do family dynamics during generational succession affect family firm KM? Are next generations more inclined to reconsider the KM designed by earlier generations? | ||
| Are family firms more equipped for knowledge creation and application during downturns and environmental jolts than non-family firms? | ||
| How have the health and economic crises during and in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic affected family firm KM drivers, phases and outcomes in family firms? | ||
| How does a relevant family event (e.g. divorce, marriage, death, illness) influence KM in family firms? | ||
| How does the KM destabilize family firm logics and routines, and how is the family system subsequently re-stabilized? | ||
| How do KM phases unfold over time? | ||
| How does a succession process impact on the KM in family firms? Is it equal for internal or external successors? | ||
| Environmental factors | ||
| How does KM change during the distinct family/business lifecycles? | ||
| Does digitalization foster or hamper the KM in family firms? | ||
| How does succession shape different KM facets? What are the differences between intra-family and external succession? | ||
| Resources | ||
| Does the long-term orientation of FFs influence their KM performance/outcomes in the long run? | ||
| What can a family firm learn from its KM? And from each KM phase? | ||
| How do emotions affect KM decisions and phases? |
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