Accepted author manuscript, 738 KB, PDF document
Available under license: CC BY: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Employee incentives and family firm innovation
T2 - A configurational approach
AU - Villani, E.
AU - Linder, C
AU - De Massis, Alfredo
AU - Eddleston, Kimberly A.
PY - 2024/5/1
Y1 - 2024/5/1
N2 - According to family business theory and practice, family firms often face a paradoxical tension between their anchorage to the past and the need to renew and innovate to remain competitive, which often hampers innovation. Given that innovation is inherently a social process that depends on the knowledge and creativity of an organization’s people, employee incentives may be key to managing the tradition–innovation paradox and unlocking a family firm's innovation potential. However, current research has not addressed how family firms can effectively configure incentives to promote innovation. Drawing on a configurational approach and the unique properties of the qualitative comparative analysis method, our study reveals that the set of incentives that family firms use to motivate their employees toward innovation differs in relation to whether they are more or less attached to tradition. As such, in line with the principle of equifinality, family firms with high attachment to tradition can be as innovative as those with low attachment to tradition by implementing the right configuration of incentives. Thus, we offer a human resource management perspective on innovation that advances knowledge on how family firms can unlock their innovation potential.
AB - According to family business theory and practice, family firms often face a paradoxical tension between their anchorage to the past and the need to renew and innovate to remain competitive, which often hampers innovation. Given that innovation is inherently a social process that depends on the knowledge and creativity of an organization’s people, employee incentives may be key to managing the tradition–innovation paradox and unlocking a family firm's innovation potential. However, current research has not addressed how family firms can effectively configure incentives to promote innovation. Drawing on a configurational approach and the unique properties of the qualitative comparative analysis method, our study reveals that the set of incentives that family firms use to motivate their employees toward innovation differs in relation to whether they are more or less attached to tradition. As such, in line with the principle of equifinality, family firms with high attachment to tradition can be as innovative as those with low attachment to tradition by implementing the right configuration of incentives. Thus, we offer a human resource management perspective on innovation that advances knowledge on how family firms can unlock their innovation potential.
U2 - 10.1177/0149206323115732
DO - 10.1177/0149206323115732
M3 - Journal article
VL - 50
SP - 1797
EP - 1835
JO - Journal of Management
JF - Journal of Management
SN - 0149-2063
IS - 5
ER -