Entrepreneurial orientation and innovation in a context of crisis: Some relevant factors in the case of family firms

Abstract

This article analyses how some internal factors inherent to family firms influence the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) of small-and-medium (SME) family businesses, which are the most successful type of firms in maintaining jobs in a crisis like the present. In this sense, we predict that a family firm’s image, its willingness to change, and the strategic involvement of its board of directors may positively influence its EO, which is one of the most used strategies among firms against crisis. We test these hypotheses by surveying the CEOs of 232 Spanish SMEs. The results of a structural equation model corroborate our hypotheses.