Staying Alive. Digitalize or Die. Unveiling the Power of Resilience : Family Businesses' Response to Mandatory Digitalization

This study investigates the impact of mandatory digitalization on business survival when digitalization is forced by institutional pressure or technological disturbances. Specifically, we explore how family businesses' resilience influences their sensitivity to the effects of digitalization on survival compared to non-family businesses. To achieve this, we conducted a multigroup analysis using Partial Least Squares (PLS-SEM) on a sample of 600 firms, containing family and non-family businesses. Our results show that family businesses exhibit a stronger association with organizational resilience, suggesting that non-family businesses could benefit from considering the strengths of family businesses to enhance their survival prospects. However, the role that digitalization holds in the current business paradigm, can be identified as a sufficient but not necessary condition for corporate success. In conclusion, our findings highlight the importance of family businesses' resilience in navigating the challenges of forced digitalization for long-term endurance