Top-management-team diversity and innovativeness in family firms: The role of separation and disparity
研究了家族企业高管团队中社会情感财富分离对创新性的负面影响，以及性别和代际差异如何加剧这种效应，基于102家比利时家族企业的调查数据。
Top-management-team (TMT) diversity is increasingly recognized as a key driver of innovativeness in family firms. However, much of the existing research treats diversity as a unitary concept, overlooking its multidimensional nature and the distinct effects of specific types of diversity. Addressing this gap, this study examines the impact of socioemotional wealth (SEW) separation within the TMT—defined as divergence in TMT members’ prioritization of SEW—on innovativeness. We also explore how two forms of diversity-as-disparity—gender and generational disparities—moderate this relationship. Drawing on survey data from 548 executives across 102 private Belgian family firms, our analysis reveals that SEW separation within the TMT is negatively associated with innovativeness. Furthermore, this negative effect is exacerbated under conditions of higher gender or generational disparity. These findings underscore the importance of value-based and structural TMT diversity in shaping innovation-related behaviors within family firms.