Family firms’ collaborative innovation is characterized by the so-called ability-willingness paradox i.e. they are less willing to engage in collaborations despite being more able to manage them for innovation purposes. In this paper, we introduce collaboration partner type and spatial proximity as two important boundary conditions of this paradox. We examine the differences in collaboration for innovation across different spatial proximities and partner types for small family and non-family firms. We use a large sample of 6272 small firms in the United Kingdom (UK) during 2002–2016 to show that this paradox is indeed not a universal phenomenon. Small family firms overcome their lower willingness when collaborating with customers within regional proximity and, based on their unique characteristics and superior ability to govern these collaborations, they are able to generate an innovation premium compared to small non-family firms.

家族企业的协作创新具有所谓的能力-意愿悖论的特点，即尽管他们更有能力为创新目的管理合作，但他们不太愿意参与合作。在本文中，我们介绍了协作伙伴类型和空间邻近性作为这一悖论的两个重要边界条件。我们研究了小型家族企业和非家族企业在不同空间邻近度和合作伙伴类型之间的创新合作差异。我们使用 2002-2016 年间英国 (UK) 的 6272 家小公司的大样本来证明这种悖论确实不是普遍现象。小型家族企业在与邻近地区的客户合作时克服了他们较低的意愿，并且，