Revisiting the relationship between family management and firm performance in SMEs: the mediating effects of the use of management control systems and the achievement of technological innovation

Abstract

We study the influence of family management on firm performance in SMEs, analysing the mediating role of management control systems and the achievement of technological innovation in the former relationship. We used data from a survey addressed to firm managers in Murcia (Spain) and we checked our models using Partial Least Squares (PLS). We find empirical support for a positive mediating influence of management control systems and the achievement of technological innovation on the relation between family management and firm performance. Hence, the higher is the use of management control systems and the greater the creation of technological innovation, the more likely it is that family-managed firms perform better. Moreover, we show that the use of management control systems has both a direct and indirect –through its incidence on the obtaining of TI- influence on firm performance. Therefore, our paper stresses the importance of considering that family managers may utilize management control systems and the obtaining of technological innovation as a mean to improve firm performance