Does family social capital matter with new product development? Evidence of micro- and small-sized family business

• Main Authors: Chia-Jung Lee, 李佳蓉
• Other Authors: Hsueh-Liang Wu
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2016
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/g74f55

博士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 國際企業學研究所 === 104 === The economic importance of family businesses and their innovation patterns have become a topic of increasing interest in recent decades. Among all the key factors contributing to innovation, firm interconnectedness and knowledge search are particularly significant to new product development (NPD). Although the literature on the innovative behavior of family firms continues to accumulate, the causes of firm innovativeness remain inconclusive. To heed the recent calls for more inquiries into the innovation of micro and small sized family businesses, this thesis, drawing on relational and stewardship perspectives, aims to examine how family social capital shapes firm innovativeness through the company-wide explorative orientation. Using Heckman’s two-stage Model on a sample of 186 Taiwanese micro & small sized family firms, this study shows primarily that the outcome of NPD is explainable by something beyond the companywide search orientation per se; that is, family social capital drives explorative activities which, in turn, enhance the NPD. This study further attests that the effect of explorative orientation on NPD is strengthened in conjunction with managerial stewardship.