R&D collaborations and twin transition in family firms

Abstract

This study examines how family firms implement the twin transition, the mutually reinforcing digital and green transformations that enhance sustainable competitiveness. While family firms possess a strong ability to innovate due to concentrated ownership and long-term orientation, they often display lower willingness to engage in innovation because of a reluctance to collaborate externally, creating a willingness–ability paradox. Based on a revelatory case study of a third-generation Italian family firm operating in the hospitality and agrifood sector, the study investigates how collaboration with a local research institution facilitated the firm’s successful twin-transition process. The partnership followed an earlier failed collaboration with another organization, which collapsed due to value misalignment and lack of trust. The findings show that the new partnership’s value congruence and shared commitment to regional sustainability fostered openness to experimentation and learning. The study conceptualizes willingness as a relational and dynamic construct, co-created through iterative engagement with trusted partners, and contributes to family business research by showing how trusted R&D collaborations enable family firms to align economic, environmental, and socioemotional goals, thereby overcoming motivational barriers and effectively advancing the twin-transition process.