Tradition-innovation ambidexterity in family firms: a literature review and emerging framework

Abstract

Organizational ambidexterity refers to a firm's ability to balance exploitation and exploration, thereby reconciling efficiency and innovation. This tension is particularly salient in family firms, where exploitation is often associated with tradition, legacy, and identity, while exploration is commonly linked to innovation and strategic renewal. This study integrates fragmented literature on ambidexterity in family firms into a framework of key antecedents and outcomes. This study conducts a systematic literature review of 65 articles indexed in Scopus and Web of Science. Through a structured coding and synthesis process, it develops an integrative framework capturing the main antecedents and outcomes of ambidexterity in family firms. The study identifies three clusters of antecedents: Ownership Factors, Organizational and Management Factors, and Environmental and Cultural Factors, and three main outcomes: longevity and continuity, firm performance, and organizational sustainability. These antecedents shape the conditions under which family firms develop organizational ambidexterity, which in turn influences multiple outcomes. As a literature-based study, this article offers a conceptual synthesis that future empirical research could test and refine across different family firm contexts. The framework supports practitioners in developing a holistic understanding of the drivers of ambidexterity, helping family firms identify and coordinate key factors that enable the balance between tradition and innovation. This study develops an integrative framework that synthesizes both the antecedents and organizational outcomes of ambidexterity in family firms. Whereas previous literature reviews have examined antecedents and outcomes in isolation or addressed specific aspects of ambidexterity separately, this review integrates multiple dimensions into a coherent framework interpreted through the tradition-innovation lens. The framework reveals how ownership, organizational and managerial, and environmental and cultural conditions collectively define the set of factors associated with ambidexterity, which in turn influences longevity and continuity, firm performance, and organizational sustainability.