Knowledge integration in family firms: Understanding the nexus between familiness and organizational effectiveness

Although knowledge integration has been deemed relevant for the developmentand survival of family firms, prior studies suggest that the lack of skills to com-bine and transfer incumbent family members’knowledge within the family mayhinder family firms’organizational effectiveness. Knowledge integration, in thiscontext, might depend on family involvement in ownership, management andgovernance, and family essence, considering the emotional and relational aspectsof the influence the family exerts on the business. Relying on knowledge-basedview and dynamic capability perspectives, we propose a model suggesting thatknowledge integration intervenes in the relationship between familiness and orga-nizational effectiveness. Our hypotheses are tested on a sample of 102 privateSpanish family businesses. The results reveal that familiness is beneficial forknowledge integration, enhancing family firms’organizational effectiveness. Ourstudy provides practical implications for family business owners and managers,and opportunities for further research.