The relationship between food heritage and clan culture: is “familiness” the missing link in SMEs?

Purpose – This paper empirically tests the relationship between food heritage, familiness, and clan culture, thus, highlighting the pivotal role of familiness in building robustly competitive food firms based on clan culture and food heritage. Design/methodology/approach – The methodological approach adopted is based on a quantitative analysis with data from one eco-tourist city in Iran (Torqabeh). In this regard, we developed a structured questionnaire surveying 98 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in the food industry. We then used partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to carry out the analysis. Findings – The results indicate the significant positive relationship between food heritage and clan culture, and highlight the role of familiness as a strong mediator, which is also associated with a strong relationship between food heritage and clan culture. Research limitations/implications – In the present study, the main limitation was linked to the small sample size and data collection, which took place in only a single city; however, further research could overcome this limitation by investigating SMEs from a heterogeneous geographical context. Originality/value – The value of this research relates to studies that have examined food heritage as a possible antecedent of familiness. Moreover, the novelty of this research is to study the concept of familiness in improving resource-based views and organizational theories