Knowledge management processes and innovation in family firms: the moderating role of risk-taking
| Autor | Dana-María Serrano-Bedia/Gema García-Piqueres/Marta Pérez-Pérez |
| Cargo del Autor | Universidad de Cantabria, España |
| Páginas | 2156-2178 |
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CAPÍTULO 100
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PROCESSES AND
INNOVATION IN FAMILY FIRMS: THE MODERATING
ROLE OF RISK-TAKING 645
DRA. ANA-MARÍA SERRANO-BEDIA
DRA. GEMA GARCÍA-PIQUERES
DRA. MARTA PÉREZ-PÉREZ
Universidad de Cantabria, España
ABSTRACT
Given the central role of Knowledge Management Processes (KMPs) in fostering
innovation and business performance, besides the distinctive characteristics of family
firms (FFs) regarding their innovative behaviour and results, this paper addresses two
main objectives. Firstly, this paper aims to explore the relationships between KMPs
and FF´s innovation outcomes, in terms of radical, incremental and
mixed/ambidextrous innovations. Secondly, we explore how these relationships can
be moderated by the propensity to take risks in these firms. The empirical study uses
survey data from a sample of 288 Spanish family small and medium enterprises
(SMEs) and consists of the application of linear regression by Ordinary Least Squares
(OLS). Results confirm a positive effect of only one of the KMP under study -
knowledge creation- on all the innovation outcome variables analyzed, suggesting
that those enterprises interested on innovation in a broad sense should focus their
efforts on this knowledge management process. Regarding the moderating effect of
risk taking on the KMP-innovation outcomes relationship, a positive moderating
effect is found for knowledge storage and incremental or ambidextrous innovation,
whereas a negative moderating effect is found for knowledge transfer and radical or
ambidextrous innovation.
KEYWORDS
Family firm, Knowledge management processes, Innovation outcomes, Risk-taking,
OLS
645 Este capítulo parte del Proyecto VP29 titulado: Aprendiendo para ser una empresa familiar
emprendedora e innovadora. Entidad Financiadora: Consejería de Universidades e
Investigación. Medio ambiente y política social del Gobierno de Cantabria
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INTRODUCTION
According to the knowledge-based view of the firm, knowledge is one
of the most important resources to develop sustainable competitive
advantages (Grant, 1996; Biscotti et al., 2018) and obtain superior
organizational performance and success (Spender, 1996; Andreeva &
Kianto, 2012; Del Giudice & Maggioni, 2014; Oliva, 2014; Pérez-
Pérez & Hernández-Linares, 2020). Consequently, knowledge man-
agement processes (KMPs), defined as the dynamic activities and prac-
tices developed by an organization to manipulate its knowledge re-
sources with the aim to produce valuable knowledge (Pinho et al.,
2012) and achieve organizational goals (Stanovcic et al., 2015; Pérez-
Pérez et al., 2019), have become a key organizational activity (Calvo-
Mora et al., 2016). For this reason, this paper firstly aims to explore
the relationships between KMPs and firm´s innovation outcomes in
terms of radical, incremental and mixed/ambidextrous innovations,
with a focus on Family Firms (FFs). By doing so, we contribute to the
limited research on Knowlegde Management (KM) in this particular
context (Nieto et al., 2015; Chirico & Salvato, 2016; Serrano-Bedia et
al., 2016, García Piqueres et al., 2019). This is a question of particular
relevance considering that the overlap between family and firm (Bis-
cotti et al., 2018), as well as the high influence that the distinctive
features of FFs have tends to affect the KM process (Kotlar & De Mas-
sis, 2013; Kotlar et al., 2020). Secondly, this work analyses the moder-
ating influence of risk-taking on the KMP -innovation outcomes rela-
tionship, in an effort to expand the limited existing knowledge about
this subject (García-Piqueres el al., 2019). This also represents a con-
tribution to the KM literature due to the unique nature of family
firms. In this vein, it has been traditionally suggested that FFs are usu-
ally associated with “conservatism, strategic inertia and risk-avoiding
strategies” (Huybrechts et al., 2013, p. 161) in order to preserve their
socioemotional wealth (Gomez-Mejía et al., 2007; 2011). This behav-
iour reinforces a tendency to implement incremental innovations with
greater probability (Patel & Chrisman, 2014; Fuetsch & Suess-Reyes,
2017) as well as to invest less in innovation but with an increased con-
version rate of innovation input into output than non-family firms
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