家族企业高管团队结构性权力分布对创新绩效的影响——来自上市家族企业的实证研究

Structural power distribution between family and non-family TMT members and the innovation performance of family firms:An empirical study from Chinese listed family firms

在家族企业中,高管团队天然地因为“家族身份”被区分为家族高管和非家族高管两个群体。家族高管和非家族高管受到多元的目标和动机驱动,在企业创新上有不同战略决策偏好。集中的所有权和控制权赋予了家族高管天然的权威。高管团队结构性权力分布的合理性将极大地影响非家族高管在企业创新战略制定和执行过程中的参与积极性和贡献程度,进而影响家族企业的创新绩效。基于高管团队权力分布的研究,本文认为家族高管和非家族高管间结构性权力(职位数量、薪酬、董事会的席位)的均衡分配可以增加非家族高管参与创新战略进程的意愿和能力,促进家族企业高管团队的行为整合及互动,增加双方的信息交流,帮助平衡家族和企业目标,有利于促进创新绩效。此外,本文进一步分析了董事会独立性、环境动态性作为外部情境因素对结构性权力平等分布与企业创新绩效两者之间关系的强化作用。基于2009—2018年中国上市家族企业的数据分析,本文的假设得到支持。本文对有关家族企业高管团队及家族企业创新的研究有一定的理论意义,并对家族企业治理结构的安排和权力配置提出了实践建议。

The top management team in family firms,which consists of both family executives and non-family executives,is the core team that influences the formulation and execution of the firm′s innovation strategy.The power distribution of the top management team affects the attitudes and behaviors,cognitions and emotions,and decision-making processes,ultimately leading to differential organizational outputs,such as the innovation and financial performance.The power distribution of TMT usually refers to the degree of power inequality among the members of TMT.The weaker party in the power distribution tends to show lower involvement in the strategic decision-making process and lack of initiative in the strategy execution process.Structural power is the power acquired by individuals based on their position and hierarchical authority in the organizational structure,and refers to the relative distribution of titles,compensation and representation on the board of directors.In family firms,concentrated ownership gives family executives natural authority,while non-family executives(who often hold little or no shares in the firm)rely more on the structural power conferred by hierarchy,position,etc.to influence the decision-making process.Therefore,the appropriateness of structural power distribution in family firms will greatly affect the motivation and contribution of non-family executives to participate in the implementation process of corporate innovation decisions,thus affecting the efficiency of the transformation of innovation inputs and outputs in family firms.By analyzing the data of a sample of listed family firms in China that issued A shares from 2009 to 2018,this study finds that the more equal the structural power between family executives and non-family executives(i.e.,the more balanced the distribution of compensation,positions,and seats on the board of directors),the more it leads to the influence of three key elements of the executive team interaction process—the quantity and quality of information exchanged,the degree of cooperative behavior,and joint decision making—are more effectively exercised.A balanced structural distribution of power increases the willingness and ability of non-family executives to share information and increases the cooperative behavior of both family and non-family executives,increasing the level of interaction and cohesion within the family firm′s executive team and resulting in a more evenly distributed influence in strategic innovation decisions.A balanced structural distribution of power allows non-family executives to participate more effectively in the innovation decision making and implementation process,allowing family firms to balance economic and non-economic goals.In addition,the increased participation of non-family executives in decision making will provide diversified information and resources for the implementation of the firm′s innovation strategy,which is conducive to improving the innovation efficiency of family firms.The rationality of structural power distribution will greatly affect the motivation and contribution of non-family executives to participate in the formulation and execution of the firm′s innovation strategy,and thus affect the innovation performance of family firms.Then,we further explore the boundary conditions of the impact of structural power distribution of family and non-family TMT members on innovation performance.Better governance can ensure oversight and control by providing knowledge and resources to family and non-family executives through independent directors and through support to non-family executives.In addition,a more balanced distribution of structural power is more conducive to innovation performance as the involvement of non-family executives is important for the development and execution of innovation strategies in the context of increased environmental dynamics.The theoretical contributions of this study are:first,this study explores the impact of structural power distribution between family and non-family executives on firm innovation performance from the perspective of family firm management power distribution,which enriches the understanding of the antecedents affecting the innovation performance of family firms.Second,it provides useful insights into the power distribution of family firm management.A balanced structural power distribution helps to enhance the willingness and ability of non-family executives to participate in strategic decision making and helps family firms to strike a balance between family non-economic goals and firm growth.Third,it is explored that the differences in internal board independence and external environment dynamics in different internal and external contexts will have a moderating effect on the relationship between structural power distribution and corporate innovation strategies.Fourth,it deepens the understanding of the relationship between the composition structure of TMT,interactive processes and organizational output,and emphasizes the establishment of mechanisms conducive to increasing the interaction and participation of the entire core group of TMT.Fifthly,the phenomenon of“bifurcation bias”as a common phenomenon in family firms has gradually received attention from scholars,but most of the existing studies are still at the level of theoretical exploration,and relevant empirical studies are still lacking.In fact,the structural power distribution of TMT members essentially reflects the degree of“bifurcation bias”in the power distribution of family firms.This study explores the impact of structural power of TMT members on the innovation performance of family firms,which indirectly deepens and extends the research on“bifurcation bias”at the empirical level.The study also provides practical guidance on the arrangement of power distribution and governance structure of family firms,and provides practical reference for motivating non-family executives to participate more actively in innovation decisions,contribute their human and social capital to the implementation of innovation strategies,and improve the innovation efficiency of family firms.