Luck plays a role in business, but in different ways, especially for family businesses that are managed and operated in specific ways. Whether it is serendipity that has led to good or bad forms of luck, it impacts society and how family business is conducted. Luck is defined as “any event that involves chance, has consequences (either beneficial or harmful), and occurs outside of the control of the affected individual or entity” (Brownell et al., 2024, p. 1685). The influence of luck can be perceived in various ways based on the spirituality and beliefs of a person and a family business. Defining luck can be tricky, given how it is construed in society and this is related to cultural beliefs. Some people are naturally lucky, whilst others do not have much luck. Having lucky things happen can occur by choice or by being at the right spot at the right time. People need to take advantage of luck when it happens and view it as a good occurrence. Family businesses utilise luck to launch new ideas, but still need to be alert to their environment. This means a family businesses skills are important, but when combined with effort and timing, it can make more of a difference. Many performance outcomes can be determined by luck, but some view luck in a superstitious way. This means luck can offer a chance to continue with an idea or spark a new interest, thereby maintaining the momentum and growth of a family business.
Often luck is cultivated by a person in a family business, continually trying and expecting things to happen. This positivity can result in more opportunities for luck to occur. Sometimes mistakes can result in lucky events that lead to good fortune. However, this can depend on a person's perspective about whether a failure is lucky. Luck as a topic can be mystical as it is considered a spiritual concept. This makes it a belief that good things happen. Successful family businesses harness luck when it happens. The degree of luck differs and can be considered in either a strong or weak context. Luck can interact with other events to make it more intense. This can be linked to a family business’s capability to utilise the luck. This means considerations of a family business’s resource capacity and availability of time to utilise luck is required.
Luck can be viewed as a folk concept but mostly it is viewed as an event that happens when least expected. This means there is a degree of randomness to where, when and how luck occurs. It can be estimated in terms of statistics or probabilities. A family business’s competency can influence the usefulness of luck. Competency is defined as “an underlying set of personal characteristics that facilitate superior performance” (Boyatzis, 2008, p. 8). It is a way to understand whether people in a family business have the skills to successfully utilise luck. Through training and education, a family business’s competency can be improved. This is due to a person's skill and knowledge in a family business increasing over time. Personal characteristics such as natural talent can influence a person's competency. Competency is essential for luck to be used in the most appropriate manner. Competency can be considered from an input or output approach. The input approach considers it in terms of the underlying attributes of a person (Hoffmann, 1999). This means acknowledging natural skillsets a person may have as a result of their individual characteristics. The output approach suggests competency results from a set of standards regarding performance (Hoffmann, 1999). This means competency can be evaluated based on set criteria. There is often a philosophical debate about the role of luck in society, particularly regarding family business entrepreneurship, as everyday conceptions regarding luck influence how things are done.
Entrepreneurial experimentation
Family business entrepreneurs often experiment in terms of trying new ideas in order to improve outcomes and utilise luck. This experimentation is a fundamental characteristic of family business entrepreneurship and is needed in order for society to evolve. Burnell et al. (2025, p. 1) define entrepreneurial experimentation as “the process by which entrepreneurs design, conduct, and interpret tests of cause-and-effect relationships in order to learn and reduce uncertainty, risk and doubt associated with venture development”. Due to their innovative and proactive personality family business entrepreneurs need to continually adapt and change through experimentation based on acquired luck. It is part of the reason why people are considered as entrepreneurs in family businesses as they can benefit from luck.
Entrepreneurship subtly or overtly manifests itself in different ways based on contextual underpinnings within family business. Everyday interactions as well as workplace settings can involve entrepreneurial activity in terms of suggested ideas and communication. To better understand entrepreneurship there has been an increase in research on the topic linked to its rise in practical significance. Scholars are increasingly studying entrepreneurship by taking new approaches resulting in new observations. Family businesses utilise entrepreneurship to enhance its competitiveness whilst maintaining market share. A significant part of the global economy comprises family businesses but the way they have been managed has changed over time. Necessity entrepreneurship occurs when some kind of business activity resulting in financial gain is required. It is often conducted when there is a lack of alternatives in terms of available business opportunities. Family business entrepreneurs can start as necessity-based but change over time depending on how their business develops. This means a user-based perspective of entrepreneurship is a determinant of the importance of luck in family business.
User entrepreneurship
People involved in a family business can become active entrepreneurs when they transition from user to business developer (Ratten, 2020). User entrepreneurs are defined as “the process of commercialising a new product or service initially created for personal use” (Srivastava et al., 2025, p. 1). It has become more prevalent in society due to users becoming more capable and aware of entrepreneurship. New ventures are created through family business development and commercialisation activities. Entrepreneurial activity is usually driven by financial reasons but there can be other causes.
Lead users are people who become users of products or services before others (Von Hippel, 1986). This means they set the pace for further introductions of products into the marketplace. It is important to consider the influence lead users have on others in terms of the ability of new innovations to become adopted by family business. Often lead users are innovators themselves by seeing a need in the market, which means there may be some reluctance by others to utilise new products. Novel ideas can be hard to introduce in the marketplace because of uncertainty. This means lead users can help others through demonstrations about a product’s effectiveness. Alternatively, they can speak positively about their experiences through word of mouth.
Creative individuals tend to modify products to suit their own needs. This enables them to act in an entrepreneurial manner to commercialise their inventions. User entrepreneurship occurs when users act in an innovative business manner. It is important to consider how user entrepreneurship acts as an alternative pathway to partnering with existing organisations regarding new ideas.
Lead users become entrepreneurs when there are no existing products suiting their needs or how they see a gap in the marketplace. Often the lead user is emotionally invested in a product or service. This means the emotional connection means they are willing to experiment in different ways. Users of niche products or services such as computer games, sports and arts groups act in a different way due to their connection with the activity. Unlike employees working for an organisation for a financial gain, lead users can become involved in family business entrepreneurship for personal and community reasons. This means enjoyment as well as competitiveness leads them to entrepreneurship in a family business context. The innovation can be a planned or unplanned outcome depending on how it is positioned within a family business. Planned outcomes may be desired goals when there is an increase in performance benefits. Often there is some kind of change required in planned outcomes depending on changes within the economy and overall family business environment. Unplanned outcomes tend to occur through chance encounters or new thinking. User entrepreneurs try to solve problems they face by considering out-of-the-box thinking.
In conclusion, it is important to consider the role of luck in family business in terms of clarifying its market position. This can help to establish how to utilise entrepreneurial experimentation and incorporate lead users as part of the family business. By doing so, a family business is likely to achieve overall better performance outcomes in the global marketplace.
