Family management and family guardianship: Governance effects on family firm innovation strategy

•Drawing on agency and stewardship theories, we examine how family governance influences family firm innovation strategy.•Family Management represents family CEO, family managerial involvement, and next-generation involvement.•Family Guardianship includes trustees and family council.•Survey data from 328 UK private family firms.•Next-generation involvement and the existence of a family council) positively associated with exploration.•Exploitation, however, is positively associated with next-generation involvement only.•These findings answer calls to theorize and empirically evidence the heterogeneity of family firms’ innovation strategies. Drawing on agency and stewardship theories, we examine how two dimensions of family governance influence family firm innovation strategy. Specifically, we differentiate between the effects of Family Management (family CEO, family managerial involvement, and next-generation involvement in the business) and Family Guardianship (trustees and family council) and study their effects on explorative and exploitative modes of innovation strategy. Our analysis of unique survey data from 328 UK private family firms shows that specific dimensions of Family Management (next-generation involvement) and Family Guardianship (the existence of a family council) are significantly positively associated with exploration. Exploitation, however, is positively associated with next-generation involvement only. These findings answer calls to theorize and empirically examine the heterogeneity of family firms’ innovation modes. These findings further respond to calls to better understand the relationship between governance and behavior, advancing scholarly debate at the intersection of agency and stewardship, family governance, and innovation.