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家族企業之興業行為：探究忠僕型經理人、開創性導向以及新產品開發之關係
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environment is stable, but it does reduce the organization’s ability to discover opportunities
and respond to environmental changes (Katila and Ahuja, 2002; He and Wong, 2004).
While family firms are commonly perceived as traditional, old-fashioned and stagnant,
some studies indicate that family businesses have an edge in exploitation rather than
exploration activities (Martin, Vaughn, and Lumpkin, 2005; Uhlaner et al., 2012). Because of
the concern for wealth preservation, the challenges of engaging in entrepreneurial activities
can cause family firm leaders to view corporate entrepreneurship more cautiously. Martin et
al. (2005) propose that family business characterized by a strong family orientation may
create tension that pulls the company away from explorative behaviors. Therefore, the
rightful mechanism for family and entrepreneurial objectives to function side by side with
one another is vital for a family business to survive across generations.
The decision to invest in corporate entrepreneurship is a matter of strategic choice
(Sirmon and Hitt, 2003); thus, there is a need to look into decision makers’ attitude toward
exploration and exploitation activities. Agency theory embraces assumptions of self-interest
and economic rationality to derive its conclusions, while stewardship theory posits that many
company executives are driven instead by motivations such as altruism (Davis et al., 1997;
Corbetta and Salvato, 2004). When a family firm favors the principles of agency theory,
organizational behavior will be designed to minimize losses, control opportunistic tendencies
and maximize efficiency. In contrast, when a family firm favors stewardship theory
principles, employee and organizational interests will be aligned, and organizational
structures will be involvement-oriented and empowering (Corbetta and Salvato, 2004). As a
result, family firms which support a stewardship philosophy will adopt innovative and
proactive behaviors that involve calculated risks, but can also significantly improve firm
performance.
In other words, whereas agency theory suggests why or why not family businesses
access resources for exploitation and exploration, stewardship theory helps to explain in
more detail why and how these resources will be generated or allocated for explorative and
exploitative activities. Since the goal of our study is to explain the variation in corporate
entrepreneurship among family firms, the stewardship perspective appears promising.
2.2 The Stewardship Perspective and Family Firms
Stewardship theory posits that many leaders do not simply behave according to narrow
self-interest, but are motivated to make a substantive social contribution to their family,
company mission, co-workers and society at large (Davis et al., 1997; Donaldson and Davis,