Investment in innovation and international entrepreneurial performances of Chinese family businesses: from the perspective of intergenerational succession

Innovation and international entrepreneurship are important paths for family businesses to achieve sustainable growth. However, there are few relevant studies on the development and inheritance of family businesses. This paper has taken China's listed family businesses from 2007 to 2020 as a sample in order to explore how investment in innovation affects international entrepreneurial performances. The study found that family businesses with high investments in innovation had lower international entrepreneurial performances. When family businesses are inherited by the firstborn or managed by multiple generations, the degree of this negative impact will increase, while heirs with overseas work experience will reduce the negative impact. The gender and overseas educational experience of the heirs will not have an impact on the negative relationship. These findings emphasize the heterogeneous role of intergenerational succession, revise some traditional inheritance views of Chinese family businesses and reveal the important role of reasonable intergenerational succession strategies in coordinating innovation and international entrepreneurship.