Discussion and conclusion
The results showed strong support for innovation in both family and non-family firms.
This research supports recent research by Kellermanns et al. (2010) and Naldi et al.
(2007) which found a positive relationship between innovativeness and family firm performance.
More specifically, knowledge was identified as a key variable with innovation
in family organizations. It is concluded that innovation and knowledge resources have
the strongest influence on family firm performance
Hypothesis 2 states that firm performance is positively related to knowledge and
innovation as compared to non-family firms. The hypothesis is supported. The family
sample findings are significant at the 1% level for the independent variables knowledge
(β = 0.24, t = 4.02) and innovation (β = 0.44, t = 7.28) with 44% of the variance
explained. However, the non-family sample indicates no significance for the knowledge
variable (β = 0.11, t = 0.88). These results indicate that there is evidence for support for
innovation and knowledge in family firms. Therefore, hypothesis 2 is supported.