The Impact of Relationships on Knowledge and Leadership in Family Firms in the 21st Century

Abstract

Intellectual capital reflects the knowledge and thinking capacity that a particular company can use to achieve benefits (Muslih, 2021). It is often identified with organizational capital (Beltramino, 2020). At the same time, the significance of a human is to intellectual capital resources is often emphasized (Dessein & Pratt, 2022; Ozgun, 2022). Interactions between employees within an organization, as well as between employees and the environment, are of significant importance. Relations of this kind are even considered relational capital (Zhang, 2022). Family firms are pervasive organizations (Calabrò, et al.,2019) in all economies worldwide, and evidence shows that the presence of family in a business impacts the firm under wide range of circumstances. Innovation is a prominent one of them, and this study examines the way families affect innovation antecedents, activities, and outcomes. Research has shown that even though organizations expect leaders to have new skills, they still largely promote traditional models and mindsets. The authors draw on their study conducted over the last five years. The study is part of a larger research project. The research comprised four stages, with the number of enterprises surveyed in stage 1 being N=605. The results demonstrate the significant potential of this type of work and the numerous research gaps that remain for future exploration. Organizations should develop their leaders’ skills and evaluate leadership in a way that allows them to successfully navigate ambiguity, take responsibility for handling rapid change, and engage with external and internal stakeholders. There is therefore an obvious gap between what organizations should do to support 21st-century leaders and what is currently happening. Today, 21st century leaders of the must adopt an agile approach to leadership and management, be proactive, and look for opportunities that will allow them and their teams to grow and develop.