Overcoming the ability-willingness paradox in small family firms’ collaborations

Abstract Family firms’ collaborative innovation is characterized by the so-called ability-willingness paradox i.e. they are less willing to engage in collaborations despite being more able manage them for purposes. In this paper, we introduce collaboration partner type and spatial proximity as two important boundary conditions of paradox. We examine differences across different proximities types small family non-family firms. use a large sample 6272 firms United Kingdom (UK) during 2002–2016 show that indeed not universal phenomenon. Small overcome their lower willingness when collaborating with customers within regional and, based on unique characteristics superior ability govern these collaborations, generate an premium compared