TY - JOUR AB - Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore which actors in the hospitality industry drive innovation in hospitality family firms and particularly aims at understanding how these drivers contribute to create and sustain competitive advantage. The peculiar role of family dynamics in these efforts is considered.Design/methodology/approach Narrative interviews in 22 hospitality family firms in Western Austria were conducted. Data were analyzed using the qualitative text analysis software GABEKĀ©.Findings Results show that the entrepreneurial family and employees are key drivers for innovation as actors internal to the firm, but also the guests and regional competitors as external drivers provide comprehensive innovation input. These innovation efforts are perceived to stimulate growth and business development.Research limitations/implications Future research might want to test and further concretize the propositions from this study in quantitative surveys. Additionally, the entrepreneurial family formed the central focus of this study; thus it would be interesting to investigate the other actors identified as key drivers of innovation in hospitality family firms.Practical implications Recommendations to entrepreneurs and regional politics are to capitalize on the identified actors as important drivers of innovation.Originality/value Research widely agrees that in hospitality collaboration, innovation is necessary, for many actors jointly offer complex products and services to tourists. However, it remains unclear which actors are mainly driving innovation in hospitality and how they do this, particularly when considering that the majority of firms in this industry are family firms and therefore family dynamics need to be considered for analysis. VL - 30 IS - 3 SN - 0959-6119 DO - 10.1108/IJCHM-04-2017-0242 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-04-2017-0242 AU - Kallmuenzer Andreas PY - 2018 Y1 - 2018/01/01 TI - Exploring drivers of innovation in hospitality family firms T2 - International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management PB - Emerald Publishing Limited SP - 1978 EP - 1995 Y2 - 2024/03/29 ER -