To be open or not? The role of governance mechanisms

Despite many studies on family firms (FFs) and innovation and some seminal works about FFs and open innovation (OI), results are still controversial. Our manuscript adds to the debate, investigating if different degrees of influence of the family on the firm’s decision-making may affect OI choices. The influence of the family has been innovatively operationalised: firstly, we build on the interplay between all the three governance mechanisms through which the influence can be exerted: the ownership, the monitoring, and the leading roles. Secondly, while avoiding the definition of thresholds for controlling such mechanisms, we consider the extent to which they are controlled by the family, by means of fuzzy logic. Building on a survey on 178 Italian firms, we show that OI breadth and depth are not influenced by the extent of family’s control; rather the greater (lower) is the family’s influence, the lower (the more) is the collaboration with universities (customers and suppliers).7-9 September 201