Search

Extant research has yielded conflicting theoretical and empirical predictions about whether family firm acquirers perform better or worse in mergers and acquisitions (M&As) than their nonfamily firm counterparts. To help resolve this controversy, we take a socioemotional wealth (SEW) perspective to theorize that family members' desire to preserve their SEW favors the pursuit of M&A strategies that are both beneficial (industry-related M&As) and detrimental (domestic M&As) to M&A performance. We further theorize that the desire to preserve SEW leads to family firm idiosyncratic SEW resources that help family firm acquirers, on average, achieve better M&A performance than nonfamily firm acquirers. Meta-analytic results based on 51 primary studies covering 242,123 M&A deals are in line with our predictions. Thus, our study contributes to the literature on family firms and M&A performance by explaining how the different M&A strategies chosen by family firms have positive and negative consequences for M&A performance. Our theory and findings have implications for future family business and M&A research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our meta-analysis investigates the environmental sustainability performance of family firms (FFs) distinguishing between environmental hand- and footprint and accounting for FF heterogeneity. Based on a sample of 87 primary studies comprising 118,538 firms, we find no significant difference between FFs and non-FFs regarding their overall environmental sustainability performance. Yet, distinguishing between environmental hand- and footprint, we show that FFs have a lower footprint than non-FFs but do not differ regarding their handprint. Firm size, being a public firm, and type of family involvement moderate the effects of FF status on environmental sustainability performance. Our research note extends prior meta-analytical evidence and contributes to a more fine-grained and nuanced understanding of the environmental sustainability performance of FFs. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates whether family owners consider the stages of CEO tenure in their use of firm performance to assess CEOs. Integrating insights on family owners' long-term orientation and stages of CEO tenure, we theorize that family owners rely more on firm performance to make CEO replacement decisions during the mid-stage of CEO tenure than during the early and late stages. Moreover, we predict that they hold nonfamily CEOs more accountable for firm performance than family CEOs only during the mid-stage of CEO tenure. Using data from family-controlled firms in Taiwan, we found empirical evidence supportive of our theoretical predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of organizational resilience enabling firms to respond to adversity and survive has become ever more critical in the wake of an increasingly unpredictable external environment. Yet, while we understand the importance of resilience in responding to a major adversity, we have little appreciation for how firms are affected and react when facing multiple adversities over time, or how multilevel factors might impose on this process. These are crucial issues given that adversities are not necessarily single, isolated, or infrequent episodes. By studying a long-established family firm in the United Kingdom that experienced four major adversities, we identify the process that enabled it not only to survive but also to thrive. In this qualitative study, we introduce the notion of organizational fortitude to describe the approach that a firm develops to cope with the challenges of multiple unexpected adversities and highlight how multilevel factors combine to foster organizational fortitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to family business theory and practice, family firms often face a paradoxical tension between their anchorage to the past and the need to renew and innovate to remain competitive, which often hampers innovation. Given that innovation is inherently a social process that depends on the knowledge and creativity of an organization's people, employee incentives may be key to managing the tradition–innovation paradox and unlocking a family firm's innovation potential. However, current research has not addressed how family firms can effectively configure incentives to promote innovation. Drawing on a configurational approach and the unique properties of the qualitative comparative analysis method, our study reveals that the set of incentives that family firms use to motivate their employees toward innovation differs in relation to whether they are more or less attached to tradition. As such, in line with the principle of equifinality, family firms with high attachment to tradition can be as innovative as those with low attachment to tradition by implementing the right configuration of incentives. Thus, we offer a human resource management perspective on innovation that advances knowledge on how family firms can unlock their innovation potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family firms face significant challenges in professionalizing their management, while the professionalization effects on the firms' performance are unclear. Drawing on stewardship and agency theories, we theorize and test the effects of family ownership and professionalization on firms' financial performance and sustainability (environmental, social and governance) reputation. Using a large-scale management practices dataset of both public and private companies in the US, UK, Germany, and France, we find that family firms outperform nonfamily ones in terms of both financial performance and sustainability reputation, and professionalization helps strengthen such positive effects. We theorize that this is because professionalization can address agent opportunistic behaviors, while enhancing steward behaviors unique to family firms. The findings contribute to the literature on family business governance and professionalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family business research across academic disciplines has increasingly considered the causes of "bad behavior" in family firms and its impact. A review of this literature is important because different emphases in different disciplines may obscure the nature of dysfunctional behaviors in family firms. After reviewing 160 studies from 64 journals, we propose family firm dysfunction is better understood by emphasizing the roles the family and the firm's external environment play because negative behavior often traces to family interactions predating firm engagement and to external pressures. We also present research questions to guide future studies on family firm dysfunction across disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a framework that intersects strategic management and institutional economics, we show how differences in institutional environments and firm resources influence different types of strategic change (i.e., internationalization, innovation, and diversification) in family firms. We review 193 quantitative and qualitative articles to identify differences in strategic change and their performance consequences among family firms and between family and nonfamily firms. We conclude that institutional environments and firm resources impact not only the extent family firms engage in different types of strategic change but also their performance and long-term survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What makes some families more entrepreneurial than others? How are they able to nurture entrepreneurship across generations? These are fundamental questions for family business and entrepreneurship research. In particular, the multigenerational dimension of entrepreneurial families (EFs) and the new family logics that emerge as the family grows may lead to different types of entrepreneurial activities. To shed light on these questions, we conduct a systematic literature review of 90 peer-reviewed articles focusing on the characteristics and behaviours of EFs, family members and their business activities. Specifically, we first identify and categorise the family-related factors characterising EFs across generations. Second, we link the identified factors to different types of entrepreneurial activities pursued as the generations advance, distinguishing two dimensions: mode of organising (internal vs. external), and degree of relatedness (related vs. unrelated). Finally, we highlight the main gaps in the literature and provide a future research agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the effect of nonfamily chief executive officers (CEOs) on family firms' propensity to form political connections. We combine research on corporate political activity and family business and draw from the bounded reliability theory to analyze how the presence of a nonfamily CEO is related to the hiring of politically connected managers and board members. We further examine how our base hypothesis is contingent upon the organizational and environmental factors influencing nonfamily CEOs' bounded reliability. Using the data from publicly listed Chinese family firms, support for our model was found. The study advances the understanding of family firms' political activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the effects of family involvement on international market entry. Bridging theories of interorganizational imitation with the notion of socioemotional wealth protection, we argue that family-managed firms are more likely to act as "intuitive statisticians," using the internationalization outcomes of industry peers to determine when to internationalize. An event history analysis of 2427 manufacturing firms supports this position. Family-managed firms' likelihood to internationalize increases as prior entrants' performance mean and variance increase. Ultimately, our study demonstrates that this imitation strategy enables family-managed firms to reduce risk and endure longer in broached international markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes how family control influences firms' acquisition activity using a socioemotional wealth (SEW) approach and discusses their anticipated SEW gains and losses when making acquisition decisions. Data collected from Spanish public companies from 2010 to 2015 indicates that family firms are more reticent about undertaking acquisitions than nonfamily firms, and their lower propensity is more pronounced when there are no former politicians on the board of directors whose presence could reduce potential SEW losses. Furthermore, the benefits of former politicians on the board of family firms in terms of acquisition activity only occur in low-velocity industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite anecdotal evidence showing that some CEOs possess narcissistic personality traits, research on this individual characteristic is still lagging behind. Though the literature has established that narcissistic CEO traits may affect firm performance, it is not clear whether they act as constructive or destructing forces in family firms. This is particularly important given family firms' attention towards the preservation of socioemotional wealth. A question thus arises: Can family firms benefit from narcissistic CEOs or should they avoid appointing individuals with this personality trait? Our analysis of unique data from Italian CEOs – collected through a survey and a psychometric test – reveals that CEO narcissism is lower in family firms, and among family CEOs. Nevertheless, in family firms, more narcissistic CEOs tend to exploit greater innovation opportunities by fostering higher top management teams strategic decision comprehensiveness. Our findings advance our understanding of narcissism in leadership positions, highlighting its importance for family firms' innovation and providing meaningful contributions for research on CEO personality, family business and innovation, as well as for practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the role of stewardship practices related to entrepreneurial leadership in turning entrepreneurial orientation (EO) into family firm performance while considering its environmental context. Family business research has not fully investigated how the EO–financial performance relationship depends on configurations of internal and external factors which establish strategic fit. We argue that family firms can overcome the often-highlighted paternalism-entrepreneurship paradox by employing stewardship practices related to entrepreneurial leadership (internal factor), which in turn can help them leverage strategic fit between EO and dynamic environments (external factor). The results of a survey of 162 Austrian small and medium-sized family enterprises (family SMEs) show that family SMEs can only profit from EO under certain configurations of internal and external factors. Employing stewardship practices related to entrepreneurial leadership turns out to be an efficient and necessary condition for transforming EO into performance. Environmental dynamism is, furthermore, a double-edged sword facilitating and impeding the transformation of EO into performance. These findings contribute to existing research by shedding light on the role of stewardship practices in establishing strategic fit in entrepreneurial family firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have recently paid growing attention to the transfer of family legacies across generations, but existing work has been mainly focused on an inward-oriented, intra-family, perspective. In this article, we seek to understand how family firms engage in rhetorical history to transfer their social family legacy to external stakeholders, what we call "outward-oriented social legacy." By carrying out a 12-months field study in three Italian family business foundations, our findings unveil three distinctive narrative practices— founder foreshadowing, emplacing the legacy within the broader community, and weaving family history with macro—history— that contribute to transferring outward-oriented social legacies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation literature increasingly considers the importance of the temporal dimension of knowledge search. In particular, several qualitative studies demonstrate how family firms successfully search for and recombine mature knowledge into innovations. This paper extends this line of research by quantitatively examining knowledge search in family versus non-family firms in a unique dataset in global wine technology between 1956 and 2013. Our data show that family firms use mature knowledge in their innovation processes to a greater extent than non-family firms. Furthermore, family firms seem to draw higher value from mature knowledge than non-family firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the underinvestigated but fascinating issue of the sociological determinants of accounting misbehavior while focusing on an allegedly illicit accounting practice (i.e., restatement) in family- vs. nonfamily-controlled corporations. Under the framework of institutional anomie theory, we examined whether sociological structures (i.e., legal forces and cultural values) influence accounting errors inducing restatements. By applying a multivariate regression analysis to a sample of restating firms listed in 23 countries during the 2006 to 2014 period, we found that legal forces and cultural values significantly moderate the severity of accounting errors. The results of this study suggest that investors, managers, and policymakers should more fully consider the sociological structures of societies when debating the feasibility of corporate misbehaviors, as combining firm-level and country-level analyses could help to predict a firm's accounting misbehaviors, such as more severe accounting errors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family firms take different strategic actions because of their desire to grow and preserve socioemotional wealth (SEW), but pursuing SEW also generates what we call SEW resources that deliver advantages in certain contexts. We develop and test this idea with respect to corporate social responsibility (CSR). We theorize that SEW resources such as reputation, strong stakeholder relationships, and long-term orientation help family firms better leverage symbolic CSR to enhance short-term firm performance and better leverage substantive CSR to enhance long-term firm performance. Regression analyses on a 20-year panel of S& P 500 firms provide supportive evidence. Findings indicate that family firms not only "do it differently" to preserve SEW; they sometimes "do it better" because of SEW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the impact of emotional dissonance experienced in interactions with the CEO on affective organizational commitment in family firm top management teams. We argue that this relationship will be mediated by the level of satisfaction with the CEO. Additionally, we propose that CEO ownership will have a moderating effect. Using a multiple-respondent dataset of 212 top managers from 45 family firms, we find that emotional dissonance leads to less satisfaction with the CEO, influencing the level of affective organizational commitment. This relationship is even stronger if the CEO has a high degree of ownership power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family firms are known for their reluctance to invest in R&D. We show that strengthened trade secret protection is associated with higher R&D investment by family firms. More specifically, we show that the association between the strength of trade secret protection through the U.S. Uniform Trade Secrets Act and R&D investment is positively moderated by family control. Our results further show that the positive moderation of family control on the association between the strength of trade secret protection and R&D investment varies with the industry context, being stronger in high-tech industries and weaker in discrete product industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to explore strategy advisors' actions and interactions with family actors and nonfamily managers for strategy work in family businesses. By combining the strategy-as-practice perspective with the concept of emotional engagement practices, we interpret the case of a family firm collaborating with an external advisor over a 15-year period. We add to prior studies by showing how advisors work to build trustful and emotional connections that shape relational dynamics within evolving spaces of strategic discussion. We highlight the implications for strategy work, which change as relational dynamics develop over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article critically analyses entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in family firms after a major crisis, to investigate how firms with equal initial levels of EO reach different levels over time. Based on two alternative hypotheses (stability and convergence), we analysed whether the EO of family firms remains intact, strengthens, or weakens after a crisis. Based on an examination of a database of 151 family firms collected in 2004 and 2017, our findings reveal that compared to firms with higher pre-crisis EO levels, those with lower levels saw a larger increase post crisis. Furthermore, unlike the latter group, the former was able to maintain high pre-crisis levels even after the crisis. In addition, we also we found this relationship between pre-crisis and post-crisis EO levels to be influenced by two key periodic discontinuities, namely, organisational decline and generational change contingencies. These findings advance our understanding of temporal aspects of EO and heterogeneous entrepreneurial behaviour among family firms with significant implications for both theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the substantial degree of heterogeneity within family firms, little is known about how their heterogeneity affects firm behavior and the implication for the shareholder–debtholder agency problem. Our study contributes to the literature by examining whether family firms with a higher level of control-ownership divergence would disclose less information and whether Big 4 auditors play a moderating role in mitigating the negative impact of control-ownership divergence on disclosure quality resulting in improved credit ratings. Using data from the emerging economy of Taiwan, we provide support for our three hypotheses. Our contributions will interest family firm owners, researchers, auditors, and policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under weak market institutions, the positive association between group affiliation and firm performance has been empirically supported. However, the mechanisms behind this relationship remain unclear as business groups may create value for their affiliates via market and non-market strategies. We advance this discussion by leveraging an exogenous shock, namely the sudden government changes ignited by the Arab Spring, to examine: (a) whether business groups hold a competitive advantage in the political environment that enhances the performance of their affiliates and (b) which type of business groups provide that advantage to their affiliates. Our results suggest that the positive effect of group affiliation on performance is not only driven by groups' capabilities to earn superior rents in the market environment as alluded in the literature, but also by their capabilities to earn greater influence rents compared to standalone firms in the political environment. This performance effect is stronger for affiliates of family than for non-family business groups, suggesting that political influence capabilities are heterogeneusly distributed across business group types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In family firms, the family often plays a central role in the strategic decisions of the business. However, until recently, research has primarily focused on exploring the role that business factors play in firm decision-making, with less attention given to the role of the family system. This article reviews the research on executive compensation in family firms to understand whether and how the family system has been considered within this work. Guided by the application of family science theories, we provide a framework to explain why it is important to incorporate the family system in the future study of executive compensation in family firms. We conclude by discussing a research agenda outlining how elements of the family system can be integrated into future executive compensation research to inspire scholars to think differently about this important research topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article critically reviews and meta-analyzes the environmental performance of family firms. Using a sample of 40,910 firms covering a 12-year period, we conclude that the average effect of family involvement on environmental performance is negative, albeit small. This negative effect is more pronounced in primary studies that measure environmental performance via the environmental operational practices adopted and in those that define family business using the family ownership and management criteria. Our findings suggest that from an agency perspective, and compared with nonfamily firms, the negative view of the environmental performance of family firms prevails over the positive view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This meta-analysis of 142 studies from 36 countries examines how the institutional environment moderates the relationship between family involvement and firm performance. Specifically, we investigate performance differences between family and nonfamily firms while using property rights protection, institutional stability, and a country's regime type as moderators. Our analysis shows that institutional stability serves as a decisive moderator of the relationship between family involvement and firm performance and that family firms outperform nonfamily firms in democracies and autocracies but not in anocracies. Based on these findings, we provide and discuss both practical recommendations for family firms and theoretical implications for institutional theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study family firm status as an important condition in signaling theory; specifically, we propose that the market reacts more positively to positive, and more negatively to negative, CSR news (i.e., signals) from family firms than to similar news from nonfamily firms. Moreover, we propose that during recessions, the direction of these relationships reverses. Based on an event study of 1247 positive and negative changes in the CSR ratings for all firms listed on the French SFB120 stock market index (2003-2013), we find support for our hypotheses. Moreover, a post hoc analysis reveals that the relationships are contingent on whether a family CEO leads the firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conceptual article uses dynamic capability theory in small family firms with an aim to provide insights into the market orientation–innovation relationship. The research article synthesizes existing findings from the existing literature on the streams of strategy, marketing and family firms, and proposes an integrated theoretical framework comprising market orientation, potential absorptive capacity, realized absorptive capacity, explorative and exploitation innovation. Furthermore, it addresses existing research questions on the links among constructs and proposes several relationships that may advance current organizational innovation literature. This research article initiates the process of empirical examination of small family firms' innovation process through this theoretical model. The dynamic capability theory adopted here provides managers with the knowledge on the market orientation–innovation process relationship and dimensions of absorptive capacity that are important for initiating and successfully adopting the innovation process. This research article also fulfils the identified gap in the literature. To the best of the authors' knowledge, it is the first that brings together and applies research findings from the strategy and marketing literature in small firms' context and proposes an integrated approach to understand the market orientation–innovation relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We draw upon the mixed gamble perspective to investigate the entry timing decisions made by family firms in the context of cross-border acquisition (CBA) waves. We argue that family-controlled firms trade-off short-term SEW and financial losses in favor of long-term SEW and financial gains, while moving early in CBA waves. Findings suggest that family-controlled firms have a higher preference for early movement compared with nonfamily-controlled firms. Further, we show that founder's presence on the board and acquirer's superior performance amplifies the mixed gamble trade-offs, thereby strengthening the relationship between family control and early movement within CBA waves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate how family and non-family small-and-medium size enterprises (SMEs) differ in their preference for patenting over secrecy as a means to protect value of intellectual property, and how proactive orientation moderates this relationship. Because secrecy carries more risks for spillover than patenting, we propose and provide evidence to suggest that family SMEs are more likely to use patents than secrecy relative to non-family SMEs as a mechanism to protect value. However, proactive orientation can weaken this relationship, since SMEs with a proactive orientation will avoid the disclosure of information required for patenting. Using a sample of 300 SMEs from four countries in the wine industry, we find support for our hypotheses and contribute to both the intellectual property (IP) and SME literatures by explaining how family SMEs relative to non-family SMEs protect the value of IP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has shown that entrepreneurial orientation (EO) is positively associated with performance, but several context-specific features and contingencies affect this relationship. Accordingly, this article focuses on the specific context of family firms (FFs) and introduces top management team (TMT) faultlines as moderators. The main findings, obtained on a sample of 111 medium- and large-sized FFs, suggest that strong identity-based faultlines (IBFs) negatively moderate the EO–FF performance relationship, even within TMTs that are comprised only of family members, which are often viewed as homogeneous teams. Conversely, strong knowledge-based faultlines (KBFs) amplify the positive effect of EO on FF performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New digital technologies have prompted many firms, including family firms, to innovate their business models. We study the role of dynamic capabilities as mediator in the relationship between family influence and digital business model innovation (BMI), and the moderating role of environmental dynamism. Based on unique survey data from 1,444 German firms with and without family influence, we reveal that knowledge exploitation, risk management, and marketing capabilities mediate the positive relationship between family influence and digital BMI. Surprisingly, and contrary to our assumption, we find that the positive relationship between family influence and dynamic capabilities is weakened rather than strengthened by environmental dynamism. Our findings hold important implications for family business innovation and digital BMI research, offering valuable insights into the role of dynamic capabilities and environmental dynamism in the digital economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conflicts in the family business literature abound due to the breed's heterogeneity. However, a key aspect of heterogeneity has been ignored—a tendency for many family firms to gravitate toward unusual and opposite extremes in their behavior toward stakeholders and their strategic initiatives. We attribute these to family emotional bonds, secrecy from scrutiny, and exceptional managerial discretion. These bivalent qualities may combine to cause both salutary and abusive treatment of stakeholders as well as extraordinary success and abysmal failure at strategic initiatives—depending on the temporal and social priorities of family owners. We present moderating conditions and propositions before developing theoretical and methodological implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growth is important for the long-term success of a business. Regrettably, the impact of family influence on firm growth is largely neglected. We examine whether family firms have a higher growth rate than their nonfamily counterparts. Based on a large sample of firms across 43 countries over a 10-year period, we show that family firms on average have higher growth rates than nonfamily firms, and this positive effect is greater for family firms operating in strong national institutional environments which are less corrupt, more democratic, more subject to rule of law, and have effective government policies. We also find that the positive effect of family influence on firm growth varies significantly across different types of family firms and different business cycles. These findings show that family control has an economically significant impact on growth rates and important implications for both family firm theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does the socioemotional wealth (SEW) of a family firm affect its deal valuation in acquisition? Using a sample of 515 completed transactions of S&P 500 firms over the period 2003–2016, we examine a number of contexts and find that SEW creates differential valuations of targets by family firms vis-à-vis non-family firms. Particularly from an internationalization perspective, acquisitions may be an ideal option for family firms because foreign acquisitions may be loosely coupled from the core firm. Post-hoc analyses on the heterogeneity in family governance reveal that founder and descendant board chairs may have different perceptions of SEW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firms are more prone to allocate their resources to research and development (R&D) when they are confident about their ability to appropriate the value created through these activities. In this regard, policymakers introduce formal intellectual property rights (IPR) institutions to create an innovation-friendly environment. Less formalized shared values and norms are however likely to affect the extent to which organizations depend on the strength of formal institutions in determining their R&D strategy. Embracing an institution-based perspective on firm-level strategic decision-making, we examine whether the degree to which a firm relies on strong formal IPR institutions in R&D decisions depends on the configuration of informal institutions in its environment, including family and societal culture. We test our hypotheses on a representative sample of privately-held European manufacturing firms and find that the family institution can play an "institutional void filling" role through involvement in ownership and management. This is particularly the case when the firm is embedded in a collectivist culture coherent with the family's values and norms imbued in the business. Our study offers contributions to the institution-based view, innovation, and family business literatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we build on upper echelons theory and insights from psychology to suggest that CEO Machiavellianism is manifested in the alliance behaviors of family firms. Specifically, we argue that more Machiavellian chief executive officers (CEOs) seek out strategic alliances—as doing so provides opportunities to manipulate, control, and exploit others—and that their tendency toward manipulative and controlling behaviors results in less sustainable alliances. We also argue that the effect of CEO Machiavellianism on the engagement and sustainability of strategic alliances is affected by operating in family firms. Since the owning family often intervenes and mitigates any concerns regarding the organization or its leadership, we argue that any concerns that alliance partners have regarding more Machiavellian CEOs will be weaker as family ownership increases; as such, we argue that as family ownership increases, the positive relationship between CEO Machiavellianism and strategic alliance engagement will be more strongly positive while the negative relationship between CEO Machiavellianism and alliance sustainability will be less strongly negative. Our study presents and tests a theory of how more Machiavellian CEOs affect the decisions surrounding strategic alliances by providing a novel antecedent of the decisions surrounding strategic alliances in family firms. We find support for our arguments with a sample of Standard & Poor's 500 firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This analysis provides a review of family business literature concerning the application of socioemotional wealth (SEW) and its extension through the FIBER framework. Specifically, we answer Brigham and Payne's call by assessing the multidimensionality of the SEW construct, the interrelatedness of the dimensions, and its specificity to family firms. We contribute to the literature by conducting a systematic review of the SEW literature and examining the applications of the FIBER dimensions, noting the evolution of specific research themes. Last, using necessary condition analysis, we provide four conceptual inferences regarding the assumptions of SEW to provide a way forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study draws on institutional theory to explore the relationship between family involvement, governmental connections, and initial public offering (IPO) underpricing in China. We explore these relationships using a sample of 577 manufacturing firms listed on the small and medium enterprises board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange over a 10-year period (2004-2014). In contrast with previous literature, we found that Chinese family firms tend to exhibit less IPO underpricing than nonfamily firms. In addition, we found family members' political ties enhance the negative relationship between family involvement and IPO underpricing. In contrast, state ownership mitigates the above relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family-managed firms take actions to protect their reputations. We theorize that one such action involves avoiding corporate political activity (CPA) that expose firms to social attack, especially when also invested in corporate social responsibility. Because large firms are frequent targets for social attack, the same sensitivity that encourages most family managers to avoid CPA encourages it among the largest as a buffer. Supportive analysis of Standard and Poor's 500 firms shows that family-managed firms spend, on average, 86% less on CPA, even less when invested in substantive corporate social responsibility. The largest invest as much or more in CPA as nonfamily peers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a systematic literature review, we assess the current state of research on intrafamily conflicts in family firms, systematize the findings, and outline avenues for future research. Based on a review of 88 studies, we develop an input–process–output framework to synthesize input, process, output, and context variables and identify research gaps. The review contributes to the family business literature by bridging the family business and intragroup conflict literature, considering multiple levels of analysis (the individual, family, and firm), and presenting relevant research questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing number of family firms choose to select a nonfamily CEO for the highest executive office. However, appointing a nonfamily CEO in a family firm tends to give rise to tensions that need to be managed for effective work relationships between the nonfamily CEO and the family owners. We draw on insights from the paradox literature to better understand these tensions and how they are managed. We performed real-time, in-depth longitudinal research into one family firm, which appointed a nonfamily CEO, and studied tensions in the work relationships between the nonfamily CEO and the family owners for a period of three years. We identified tensions arising in four specific areas after the transition from a family to a nonfamily CEO: professionalisation, collaboration, resource allocation and role transition. We found new insights regarding how an advisory board can provide support for the family owners in building work relationships with the nonfamily CEO, which makes the tensions salient and possible to manage through a paradox approach. These results inform a perspective of paradox management that shows by whom and how the different tensions are managed, that is, through changes in behaviour and/or through changes in the underlying subsystems of the family firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study how ownership similarity between two firms affects the likelihood of an acquisition between them. Assortative matching arguments suggest that similarity between acquiring and target firms can encourage acquisition behavior, since more similar partners can better understand one another and combine resources in a more efficient way. Previous research has confirmed this expectation focusing on traits related to industry, strategy, and technology. We contribute to this literature by examining similarity in the type of dominant owner. We hypothesize and find evidence in a sample of 14,000 Italian companies that acquisitions are more likely to occur among firms with similar owners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines family firms' propensity to protect their intellectual property through patents. Building on the mixed gamble logic of the behavioral agency model, we theorize that family ownership has a U-shaped relationship with firm propensity to patent. Specifically, we argue that family firms' desire to prevent losses of current socioemotional wealth (SEW) inhibits their propensity to patent until a threshold level of family ownership, beyond which the family's SEW is secured and a greater focus on prospective financial gains attainable through patents is possible. We also suggest that environmental munificence moderates this nonlinear relationship such that a low-munificent environment accentuates the potentially detrimental (beneficial) effects of low-to-medium (medium-to-high) levels of family ownership on patents. We test our hypotheses on a sample of 4,198 small- and medium-sized family firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the effects of family control on entry mode choice by integrating Transaction Costs Economics with the family business literature. Using a dataset of 951 foreign investments, we investigate the role of family involvement on entry modes. After controlling for endogeneity, we find that if both the investing and the local firm are family firms, forming a joint venture is preferred, while if only the investing firm is a family firm, a wholly owned subsidiary is more likely. Results show that family control has an important impact on entry modes, an hypothesis that has not yet been fully explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We posit that family firms in China exhibit accounting properties consistent with the prevalence of Type II agency problems. In contrast to the owners of non-family firms, the owners of family firms have more incentives to seek private benefits of control at the expense of minority shareholders and provide lower-quality earnings for self-interested purposes. The empirical evidence presented in this study suggests that the accounting earnings of listed Chinese family firms are less informative, and family firms employ less conservative accounting practices than their non-family counterparts. We also find that Chinese family firms have higher discretionary accruals compared to non-family firms, which is consistent with the view that family firms engage in more opportunistic reporting behavior. Overall, our study suggests that family ownership in China is associated with lower earnings quality, which is in sharp contrast to the findings of prior studies that examine such ownership in the U.S. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Examining socioemotional wealth's influence at the individual level, an interactionist approach was used to test its moderation effect on the dark personality traits–job performance relationship, using supervisor-employee dyads in family firms. Termed the Dark Triad, dark personality traits include narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism. Results showed that when supervisors in family firms prioritize socioemotional wealth, the expected relationships between the Dark Triad and employee job performance outcomes (task, citizenship, and counterproductive behaviors) is ameliorated. These findings demonstrate that family firms can create an environment that improves the otherwise negative impact that dark personality has on job performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Incumbents typically seek a highly committed and at the same time highly competent child as a successor, yet such a candidate is often not available. Extant literature is unable to predict which desired attribute—commitment (i.e., willingness) or competence (i.e., ability)—is most important in this dilemma. Drawing from institutional logics literature, we suggest that the incumbent's personal experiences, education, and cultural embeddedness, as much as firm-level situational stimuli, direct incumbent attention to either corporate logic, favoring competence, or family logic, favoring commitment, to guide decision-making about which family member to choose as a successor. We test our hypotheses using policy capturing with responses of 1,060 family firm owner-managers, and contribute to research on succession, family firms, and institutional logics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family firms must attract talented employees to stay competitive. They have different employer characteristics than nonfamily firms. For example, although they generally offer lower wages, they also typically offer higher job security and a more cooperative and entrepreneurial work environment. However, drawing on occupational choice theory, we argue that the importance of these unique family firm characteristics depends on the national labor market context in which the family firm is embedded. A multilevel investigation of 12,746 individuals in 40 countries shows that individuals prefer to work in family firms in labor markets with flexible unregulated hiring and firing practices, centralized wage determination, and low labor-employer cooperation. A cross-level analysis further shows that the national labor market context moderates the effects of individual-level factors determining the preference to work in a family firm (e.g., entrepreneurship intention). Our article is the first to consider labor market institutions in research on family firms as employers. Practical implications exist for family firms regarding their employer branding and intrapreneurship strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]