BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER: THE ROLE OF FAMILY WILLINGNESS AND FAMILY ABILITY IN ACHIEVING HOLISTIC DIGITALISATION IN FAMILY BUSINESSES

Abstract

Recently, studies have highlighted the importance of a holistic digitalisation that incorporates process digitalisation, product digitalisation as well as digital transformation involving redefinitions of business models and organisational identities. Whereas previous studies either aimed for generalisability across firms, or investigated digital transformation projects in particular industries, only very few studies investigated the particularities of family businesses (i.e., family influence) in the digitalisation context. Based on a unique dataset of 164 German family firms, our study sheds light on the role of family ability and family willingness for holistic digitalisation. Our results show that product digitalisation is statistically independent from family influence. Whereas process digitalisation benefits only from family ability, digital tranformation is bound to the families’ willingness to pursue the transformation.

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