An exploration of familiness through a Bourdieusian mixed methods study of innovation in SME manufacturing firms in the United Kingdom
type: CreativeWork
description: Objectives This research explores the nature of familiness within SME manufacturing family firms in the United Kingdom. The study aims to provide a definitive answer to whether familiness exists in this sphere, explores the nature of familiness and concludes with recommendations for improving the business performance of family firms. The research applies the theoretical lens of Pierre Bourdieu to understanding the nature of family firms through examination of the innovation process. Prior Work Previous literature has reached differing conclusions about whether the family firm is indeed distinct from the non-family firm. There is therefore a need to understand, not only whether familiness exists, but also what the nature of these unique qualities are. Bourdieu’s theoretical concepts of doxa, fields and habitus have been applied separately to multiple social settings, but this study is the first to apply these powerful concepts in conjunction to explain familiness. Innovation activities have been selected as the most appropriate business activity for exploring the nature of familiness, because prior work has indicated that the stultifying influence of family can inhibit innovation. The manufacturing sector has been chosen for this study as previous research has shown that innovation is crucial for long-term survival in this sector. Surprisingly, there remains a gap in empirically based policy support and advice for family firm innovation in the UK, which this research helps to fill. Approach A mixed methods, convergent parallel design is proposed. Quantitative analysis uses a dataset of 582 manufacturing SMEs to determine through descriptive statistics whether there are distinctive differences between family and non-family firms. A factor analysis then produces statistically derived factors of familiness. Hypotheses, derived from both the statistical analysis and the literature, are then tested using chi-squared techniques. The mixed methods approach continues with a …
abstract: Objectives This research explores the nature of familiness within SME manufacturing family firms in the United Kingdom. The study aims to provide a definitive answer to whether familiness exists in this sphere, explores the nature of familiness and concludes with recommendations for improving the business performance of family firms. The research applies the theoretical lens of Pierre Bourdieu to understanding the nature of family firms through examination of the innovation process. Prior Work Previous literature has reached differing conclusions about whether the family firm is indeed distinct from the non-family firm. There is therefore a need to understand, not only whether familiness exists, but also what the nature of these unique qualities are. Bourdieu’s theoretical concepts of doxa, fields and habitus have been applied separately to multiple social settings, but this study is the first to apply these powerful concepts in conjunction to explain familiness. Innovation activities have been selected as the most appropriate business activity for exploring the nature of familiness, because prior work has indicated that the stultifying influence of family can inhibit innovation. The manufacturing sector has been chosen for this study as previous research has shown that innovation is crucial for long-term survival in this sector. Surprisingly, there remains a gap in empirically based policy support and advice for family firm innovation in the UK, which this research helps to fill. Approach A mixed methods, convergent parallel design is proposed. Quantitative analysis uses a dataset of 582 manufacturing SMEs to determine through descriptive statistics whether there are distinctive differences between family and non-family firms. A factor analysis then produces statistically derived factors of familiness. Hypotheses, derived from both the statistical analysis and the literature, are then tested using chi-squared techniques. The mixed methods approach continues with a …
author: Salmon, U
language: en
date published: 2026
date modified: 2026-07-24T04:26:38Z
provider: U. of Salford
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: U. of Salford