A Configurational Approach of the Relationship Between Entrepreneurial Orientation and Growth of Family Firms

The present research aims to improve scholars' understanding of the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation ( EO) and the growth of family firms in two areas. The authors propose that the EO-growth relationship is contingent on different contextual variables-environmental dynamism and environmental hostility-and an internal variable-generational involvement. Also, they consider EO to be a composite construct integrated from and related to different independent dimensions. Using information from 317 Spanish family firms, results show that ( a) EO positively influences growth only in second-generation family businesses, (b) the moderating influence of the generational involvement is related to the risk-taking dimension, and ( c) dynamism and hostility of the environment, respectively, moderate the relationship between EO and growth in a positive sense.