Family Slack: A Catalyst for Resilience and Digital Transformation in Family Businesses

Abstract

We review and reconceptualise family slack resources, encompassing the excess of family unique resources, either absorbed or not allocated, as a fundamental driver of family business resilience. Drawing on the resource-based view and the concept of ‘familiness’, we develop theoretical arguments for the existence of family financial, human, social and cultural slack and establish a framework for understanding family firms’ unique position in this context. We extend the framework of family slack resources, presenting the case of leveraging untapped resources in the digital transformation process in a family business context. We link the subdimensions of family slack resources with specific digital transformation enablers and develop propositions highlighting family businesses’ unique position in this resource-intensive process.