Industry 4.0 in Family Firms

Family firms' innovative behaviour is the subject of substantive research that has seen a steep development in the last decade. Initially, innovation of family firms was compared to non-family firms. Recently, the examination has taken an in-depth perspective into the heterogeneity of family firms, becoming more scientifically rigorous and yielding deeper insights into the topic. However, the recent crucial trends of digitalization and Industry 4.0 have been little examined into the family business context. Industry 4.0 is the next industrial revolution and will transform many industries. From an Industry 4.0 perspective and for this transformation process it is important to understand the different types of firms that inhabit the economy. Thus, the need to understand how family firms, the most ubiquitous type of organization in any world economy, adopt Industry 4.0 technologies is fundamental. Currently, although there is rationale for synthesis, the two research areas are siloed and this creates a gap in knowledge. This study contributes to the development of such synthesis between family firm and Industry 4.0 research, by first discussing each area's core characteristics, generating motivation and rationale for specific research questions to be answered in future studies.