When crises meet grand environmental challenges: Navigating intertemporal tensions in European manufacturing family firms

Abstract

ABSTRACT The grand environmental challenge of climate change represents one of the key ongoing, long-term obstacles for organizations. When interrupted by short-term exogenous crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and the shock of the Ukrainian war, the urgency of addressing this grand challenge becomes more pressing, albeit more challenging. While family firms as long-term oriented organizations might generally be well equipped to tackle climate change, we know surprisingly little on how they simultaneously experience and navigate the long-term horizon of grand environmental challenges and the short-term pressures of exogenous crises. Drawing on research around long-term orientation (LTO) and a growing stream investigating intertemporal tensions, we investigate this question building on 41 interviews with nine family firms in the context of the European manufacturing industry. Applying an abductive approach, our findings unveil three intertemporal tensions that unfold when short-term and long-term objectives collide. Besides, we show that family firms, due to their LTO, perceive these tensions with a greater intensity. Navigating the perceived tensions, we identify two mechanisms employed by family firms that mitigate the negative implications of LTO. Doing so, we contribute to extant research on grand challenges and cast light on the downsides of LTO in family firms.