Abstract
In this paper, we examine the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption on the internationalisation of family businesses compared to non-family firms, proposing that the integration of AI-based technologies leads to an increase in exports for the former. We further theorise that the positive effect of AI on exporting in family firms is strengthened when the level of digital development in their region is high. Using a longitudinal dataset of Spanish firms from 2018 to 2022, our results indicate that the negative influence of family involvement on international expansion is mitigated by higher levels of AI adoption. Furthermore, family firms that adopt AI demonstrate higher export intensity than their non-family counterparts when the regional digital development of the home country is high. We contribute to the literature by demonstrating the benefits of AI for exporting across different organisational structures and provide evidence that regional digital development serves as a critical underlying mechanism driving the association between AI and exporting in family firms, offering a pathway for future research to achieve a deeper understanding of how AI contributes to international expansion.