The Moderating Effect of Family Firm Status on the Entrepreneurial Orientation-Performance Relationship

Abstract

Although management literature mostly reports a positive association between entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance, it also recognizes that different business contexts may prompt different manifestations of entrepreneurial orientation. Considering that family firms constitute the backbone of most economies across the globe, and based on arguments from socioemotional wealth perspective, this research aims to examine the moderating effect of being a family firm on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance. The empirical study is based on primary information obtained from the chief-executive-offices of 402 small and medium-enterprises (SMEs) from Portugal, a country located in southwestern Europe, and one that has been scantly investigated by the literature in the confluence between entrepreneurial orientation and family firms. Results show that the family firm status weakens the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and performance in the Portuguese SMEs.