This article critically analyses entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in family firms after a major crisis, to investigate how firms with equal initial levels of EO reach different levels over time. Based on two alternative hypotheses (stability and convergence), we analysed whether the EO of family firms remains intact, strengthens, or weakens after a crisis. Based on an examination of a database of 151 family firms collected in 2004 and 2017, our findings reveal that compared to firms with higher pre-crisis EO levels, those with lower levels saw a larger increase post crisis. Furthermore, unlike the latter group, the former was able to maintain high pre-crisis levels even after the crisis. In addition, we also we found this relationship between pre-crisis and post-crisis EO levels to be influenced by two key periodic discontinuities, namely, organisational decline and generational change contingencies. These findings advance our understanding of temporal aspects of EO and heterogeneous entrepreneurial behaviour among family firms with significant implications for both theory and practice.

本文批判性地分析了重大危机后家族企业的创业取向 (EO)，以研究具有相同初始 EO 水平的企业如何随着时间的推移达到不同的水平。基于两个替代假设（稳定性和收敛性），我们分析了家族企业的 EO 是否在危机后保持完整、增强或减弱。基于对 2004 年和 2017 年收集的 151 家家族企业的数据库的检查，我们的发现表明，与危机前 EO 水平较高的公司相比，那些较低水平的公司在危机后增加了更大的增长。此外，与后一组不同的是，前者即使在危机之后也能够保持危机前的高水平。此外，我们还发现危机前和危机后 EO 水平之间的这种关系受到两个关键周期性不连续性的影响，即，组织衰退和代际变化的突发事件。这些发现促进了我们对 EO 和家族企业异质创业行为的时间方面的理解，对理论和实践都具有重要意义。