PurposeSurvivability capital is a unique resource resulting from the “familiness” constituting an inherent feature of family firms. Familiness represents the ability of family members to reinforce the financial and non-financial resources of businesses facing threats to their economic existence. This work proposes and examines various dimensions of the survivability capital construct, verifying whether family firms expecting deterioration of their economic situation or problems with survival due to the COVID-19 crisis can mobilise sufficient capital to survive.Design/methodology/approachThis article provides empirical evidence based on a cross-sectional online survey of 167 Polish family firms, conducted at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The method (scale) of survivability capital measurement was elaborated and validated using principal component analysis (PCA) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). Next, the mobilisation of the different dimensions of survivability capital was examined using PLS-SEM modelling.FindingsThe survivability capital of family firms is composed of two dimensions: internal (based on directly involved family members) and external (based on not directly involved family members). Family firms facing crisis-induced deterioration of the economic situation engage its internal component. Subsequently, family firms forecasting decreasing probability of survival during a crisis try to engage both the internal and the external components of survivability capital. Such behaviour is in line with the resource-based view as well as with the sustainable family business theory.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is one of the first studies to examine analytically the survivability capital construct. While previous studies mentioned the existence of survivability capital, this study attempts to introduce its various dimensions and test the mobilisation of survivability capital during the COVID-19 crisis.

中文翻译：

---

调动生存能力资本——家族企业应对冠状病毒危机

目的生存能力资本是一种独特的资源，源于构成家族企业固有特征的“家族性”。家族性代表家族成员增强面临经济生存威胁的企业的财务和非财务资源的能力。这项工作提出并检验了生存性资本结构的各个方面，验证了预期其经济状况恶化或因 COVID-19 危机而导致生存问题的家族企业是否可以调动足够的资本来生存。设计/方法/方法本文提供了经验证据基于在 COVID-19 大流行初期对 167 家波兰家族企业进行的横断面在线调查。使用主成分分析（PCA）和验证性因素分析（CFA）对生存能力资本计量的方法（规模）进行了阐述和验证。接下来，使用PLS-SEM模型检验了不同维度的生存资本的动员情况。结果家族企业的生存资本由两个维度组成：内部（基于直接参与的家族成员）和外部（基于非直接参与的家族成员） ）。面临危机引起的经济形势恶化的家族企业参与其内部组成部分。随后，预测危机期间生存概率下降的家族企业试图同时利用生存资本的内部和外部组成部分。这种行为符合资源基础观点以及可持续家族企业理论。原创性/价值据作者所知，这是最早分析性地检验生存性资本结构的研究之一。虽然之前的研究提到了生存资本的存在，但本研究试图介绍其各个维度，并测试 COVID-19 危机期间生存资本的动员情况。