The family social capital impact in practices of learning, change and innovation in entrepreneurial family businesses

Abstract

Family businesses are found in the economies all over the world; they constitute a significant number of enterprises. Recent studies understand their special features from the perspective of social capital, differentiating the approach usually used in studies in Brazil. Therefore, we add a set of variables that are involved in this type of business, allowing the association of family business theme with the entrepreneurship. This phenomenon involves learning, innovation and change in both aspects of the organizational and social collectivity ambit. Thus, it is argued that the family’s social capital present the relationship between the members of a family and those with the community, and influences the practices of innovation, learning and change in the family businesses. This vision configured these companies as entrepreneurs. The objective of this study is to develop a model to understand the social family capital phenomenon dimension, which influences the process of learning, innovation and organizational change in family business. The assumptions were established by the family social capital present in a family business, linking it as an independent variable in relation to learning, change and innovation. Family businesses that develop the family social capital are used to facilitate organizational development characterized as entrepreneurial family businesses.