The digitalization of family firms: a research agenda

• Main Author: Quinn, Martin
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd 2020
• Subjects: Iceland
• Online Access: https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/86201df9-7fc1-4e70-9850-2137622b794c

Currently, digitalization is a hot topic in popular media. While family firms represent most firms worldwide, their specific opportunities and challenges in digitalization have not yet received much research attention. As will be argued in this chapter, such research would however be necessary to advance our understanding of contemporary family firms and enable us to better advise family firms in mastering digitalization processes. We also offer some initial survey evidence from Iceland and Ireland on the digitalization of family firms. As this evidence suggests, family firms are somewhat reluctant to embrace digitalization. At this point, we can only theorize why this is the case, which reinforces our call for more research on the specifics of digitalization in family firms. Keywords: Family business, family firm, digitalization, organizational change