Generational Involvement in the Top Management Team of Family Firms: Exploring Nonlinear Effects on Entrepreneurial Orientation
研究发现家族企业高层管理团队中代际参与程度与创业导向呈倒U型关系，适度代际参与通过建设性冲突促进创业导向，但过度参与会因关系冲突而削弱这一优势。
The present study contends that an inverted U–shaped relationship exists between generational involvement—i.e., the number of family generations simultaneously involved in the family–firm top management team (TMT)—and entrepreneurial orientation (EO). Drawing on the upper echelons theory, we conceive generational involvement as a proxy of knowledge diversity in multigenerational family TMTs. We argue that while moderate levels of generational involvement stimulate task–related constructive conflicts for EO, increased kinship distance and relationship conflicts led by high levels of generational involvement are likely to undermine this potential advantage by damaging the relational context for EO. Our hypothesis is confirmed on a data set of 199 family firms.