Entrepreneurial orientation, generational involvement and partecipative strategy: a configurational approach to performance in family firms

To better understand the entrepreneurship in family firms, we consider the joint interaction effect of entrepreneurial orientation (EO), generational involvement and participative strategy. Drawing on the logic of resource orchestration, we argue that participative strategy acts as a coordinating mechanism that not only mitigates the relational conflict that increased generational involvement generates when mobilized EO, but also enhances family firms' ability to utilize the heterogeneous, yet complementary knowledge and experiences generational involvement offers. Configuring participative strategy and EO with generational involvement provides the direction and coordination needed to unlock the potential value of these unique resources. Our theory suggests that realizing the benefits from entrepreneurship in family firms is a complicated matter, affected by the configuration of EO, generational involvement and participative strategy.