Firm Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Regional Economic Development: The moderating effect of family involvement in the firm.

The present research aims to improve the scholar’s understanding of the relationship between firm entrepreneurial behaviour (family and nonfamily firms) and regional economic development (RED). Following the proposition from the extant literature that family firms contribute more to regional economic development- GDP, job opportunities and wealth creation, the authors investigate the possible causes of this differences. The authors consider entrepreneurial orientation (EO) to be a composite construct that is integrated and related other independent variables, that with strategic decision making and building bridging social capital. Using information from 307 Kenyan firms, results show that in both types of firms (1) EO positively influences RED, but the effect of family firms EO to RED is twice that of nonfamily firms, (2) strategic decision making negatively influence RED, and the effect in family firms is twice that of nonfamily firms, (3) development of bridging social capital positively influences RED, however the effect of nonfamily firms is twice that of family firms. Family involvement in the management and strategic decision making in the firm moderates the relationship between firm entrepreneurial behaviour and RED.