Family-Unique Resources, Marketing Resources, and Family Owners’ Willingness to Pursue Radical Innovation: A Model and Test

Interest in the family–marketing interface has snowballed, with considerable interest in family brand image as one marketing resource. However, a broader conceptualization of marketing resources is needed to understand their potential contribution to family business outcomes. We must also not lose sight of those family-unique resources that differentiate family firms. Drawing on the attention-based view of the firm and depicting resources as possessing attention-guiding properties, we provide a theory and model that anticipates an adverse effect from marketing resources on family owners’ willingness to pursue radical innovation. We predict how this effect is contingent on family patient capital and family social capital as two family-unique resources. Data from a two-phased, multi-respondent, matched survey of private small-to-medium-sized family firms in the manufacturing industry in Chongqing region, China, validate our theory and model. Our study provides a new theory and insights to explain heterogeneity in family firm innovation behavior.