Exploring the Entrepreneurial Behavior of Family Firms: Does the Stewardship Perspecti Explain Differences? Kimberly A. Eddleston Franz W. Kellermanns Thomas M. Zellweger Drawing from stewardship theory, we investigated corporate entrepreneurship in family firms. We argued that stewardship culture determinants––comprehensive strategic d making,participative governance, long-term orientation, and human capital––differentiate the most entrepreneurial family firms. Based on a study of 179 family firms, we show comprehensive strategic decision making and long-term orientation contribute to cor entrepreneurship. Additionally, family-to-firm unity enhanced the positive effects par tive governance and long-term orientation have on corporate entrepreneurship. While we found that family-to-firm unity can compensate for low human capital, unexpectedly, found that family-to-firm unity can dampen the positive relationship between human and corporate entrepreneurship. Introduction There is much debate regarding the firm-level entrepreneurial behavior of family firms. While some view family businesses as particularly supportive of corpora preneurship (e.g., Zahra, 2005), others see family businesses as being stagnant, conser- vative, and resistant to change (e.g., Allio, 2004). Strategic decision making c family firms when their leaders become fixated on a previously successful strategy, causing them to stifle growth (e.g., Upton, Teal, & Felan, 2001). A “generatio (Davis & Harveston, 1999)or “confining legacy” (Kelly, Athanassiou, & Crittenden, 2000) can mire the firm in traditions, thereby limiting entrepreneurial behavi Davis,Hampton, & Lansberg, 1997;Miller,Le Breton-Miller, & Scholnick, 2008). Please send correspondence to: Franz W. Kellermanns at fkellermanns@whu.edu, to Kimberly at k.eddleston@neu.edu, and to Thomas M. Zellweger, +41 71 224 71 00; e-mail:thomas.zellweger@ unisg.ch. P T E & 1042-2587 © 2010 Baylor University 347 March, 2012 DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-6520.2010.00402.x