EURAM - European Academy of Management

SIG Name

FAMILY BUSINESS RESEARCH

Mission/ Description

During the past decade, family business studies have advanced significantly but research still largely focuses on a limited number of topics and theory development requires ongoing attention. The European Academy of Management with an ad-hoc “Special Interest Group on Family Business Research” aims to be the ideal opportunity to assess the conceptual development, empirical research, and future directions of the FB field.  We envision this SIG about “Family Business Research” as an international arena to attract scholars’ contributions providing new insights on topics that have received significant attention in the past, such as succession, professionalization, conflict, performance dimensions, family processes, and governance, as well as we especially encourage scholars to undertake innovative papers and discussions of topics that have not received much attention but are important in the field, such as family governance systems, relational governance, socioemotional wealth, the role of trust, the role of enterprising families, transgenerational entrepreneurship, innovation, internationalization, etc.  We therefore encourage submissions from a variety of theoretical (agency theory, resource based view, stewardship theory, institutional theory, transaction cost theory, etc.) and methodological approaches that contribute to developing effective research projects to address major theoretical and empirical debates in this area and to guide future scholarly investigations. We welcome papers investigating one or several dimensions of family businesses, with multi-theoretical and level approach (e.g. management, entrepreneurship, finance, psychology, sociology, etc.) and cross-cultural research. We are particularly interested in advancing “Family Business” as an autonomous Research Field with contributions that offer Rigor to the Academia and Relevance to owner-managers, practitioners and local communities.

Indicate the position here:

SIG Chair

Affiliation

E-mail

Donata Mussolino

University of Naples Federico II, Italy

dmussoli@unina.it

Indicate the position here

SIG Chair-Elect

Affiliation

E-mail

Alfredo De Massis

Centre for Family Business, IEED, Lancaster University Management School, UK

a.demassis@lancaster.ac.uk

Reinhard Pruegl

Zeppelin University, Friedrichshafen, Germany

reinhard.pruegl@zu.de

SIG Program Chair-Elect

Affiliation

E-mail

Massimo Baù

Jönköping International Business School, Sweden

massimo.bau@jibs.hj.se

(If you wish, you may indicate a title for the SIG’s general track)

General Track

Title

FAMILY BUSINESS RESEARCH

(Description of the general topics of this track) (max 100 words)

Short Description

Family-owned firms are one of the foundations of the world’s business community. Their creation, growth and longevity are critical to the success of the global economy. During the past decade, although family business research is progressing in terms of theory building, it still lacks a systematic adoption of thorough and theoretically-based frameworks (Chrisman, Chua, & Sharma, 2003; Sharma, 2004; Zahra & Sharma, 2004). To advance our field we welcome papers investigating one or several dimensions of family businesses, with multi-theoretical and level approach (e.g. management, entrepreneurship, finance, psychology, sociology, etc.) and cross-cultural research. We are particularly interested in advancing “Family Business” as an autonomous Research Field with contributions which offer Rigor to the Academia and Relevance to owner-managers, practitioners and local communities.

(Description of the general topics of this track) (max 400 words)

Long description

To include in a PDF file describing the track

Family-owned firms are one of the foundations of the world’s business community. Their creation, growth and longevity are critical to the success of the global economy. During the past decade, although family business research is progressing in terms of theory building, it still lacks a systematic adoption of thorough and theoretically-based frameworks (Chrisman, Chua, & Sharma, 2003; Sharma, 2004; Zahra & Sharma, 2004). Theory is crucial for the scientific advancement of a field, because it allows scholars to explain and predict phenomena of interest (Colquitt & Zapata-Phelan, 2007). On the other hand, family firm research is still dominated by a limited number of topics, the main ones being succession, economic performance, and firm governance (Chrisman et al., 2003; Debicki, Matherne, Kellermanns, & Chrisman, 2009; Zahra & Sharma, 2004). While this reflects the key issues for family business managers (Chua, Chrisman, & Sharma, 2003), there are gaps in the literature concerning other topics on effective management and governance of family firms. One such area relates to the trade-off between economic and non-economic goals of family firms, the emotional aspects of performance, and the avoidance of the conflict that may arise from the incongruity of such goals (Debicki et al., 2009; Klein & Kellermanns, 2008; Gomez-Mejia et al, 2007;). Other underdeveloped areas are relational governance and its antecedents and consequences (Mustakallio et al., 2002; Uhlaner et al., 2007) as well as the role of families in fostering entrepreneurial behaviour (Kellermanns & Eddleston, 2006). We especially encourage scholars to undertake innovative papers and discussions of topics that have not received much attention but are important in the field, such as family governance systems, relational governance, non-economic goals, the role of trust, the role of enterprising families, psychological/responsible ownership, internationalization, capital structure, etc. We therefore encourage submissions from a variety of theoretical (agency theory, resource based view, stewardship theory, institutional theory, transaction cost theory, etc.) and methodological approaches that contribute to developing effective research projects to address major theoretical and empirical debates in this area and to guide future scholarly investigations. We welcome papers investigating one or several dimensions of family businesses, with multi-theoretical and level approach (e.g. management, entrepreneurship, finance, psychology, sociology, etc.) and cross-cultural research. We are particularly interested in advancing “Family Business” as an autonomous Research Field with contributions which offer Rigor to the Academia and Relevance to owner-managers, practitioners and local communities.

Coordinator:

Chairs

Name

Affiliation

E-mail

Andrea Calabrò

Witten/Herdecke University - Germany

andrea.calabro@uni-wh.de

Other co-chairs:

Name

Affiliation

E-mail

Eddy Laveren

University of Antwerp, Belgium

eddy.laveren@ua.ac.be

Lorraine Uhlaner

EDHEC Business School, France

lorraine.uhlaner@edhec.edu

Thomas Markus Zellweger

University of St. Gallen, Switzerland

thomas.zellweger@unisg.ch

(Specify from three to six keywords)

Keywords

Family business

Theoretical development

Multi-theoretical and level approach

Empirical issues

Future directions

New perspectives

Topic ST_01

Family Business Governance

(Description of the general topics of this track) (max 100 words)

Short Description

To be used in the website

Research on corporate governance in family businesses has increased significantly in recent years, providing new insights into the dynamics of governance and decision-making in these organizations. However, much still remains to be done. To better understand the governance of family firms, more research on important topics (e.g., boards of directors, ownership structure, family governance mechanisms such as a family council, the interplay between contractual and relational governance mechanisms) and their relation to key outcomes is needed. We encourage submissions from a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches that contribute to major theoretical and empirical debates in this area of research.

(Description of the general topics of this track) (max 400 words)

Long description

To be included in a PDF file describing the topic

Family-owned firms are one of the foundations of the world’s business community. Their creation, growth and longevity are critical to the success of the global economy. Although facing many of the same day-to-day management issues as publicly-owned companies, they must also manage many issues specific to their status.

Over the last few years research on corporate governance in family businesses has increased significantly providing new insights into the dynamics of governance and decision-making in these organizations. Literature about family business is growing extremely fast in view of the number of published articles and scholars who are involved in researching this field.

There is, however, still much to do in order to better understand governance in family businesses in detail (e.g., boards of directors, ownership structure, family governance mechanisms such as a family council, the interplay between contractual and relational governance mechanisms), and to relate the different structures and processes of governance to key outcomes, such as financial performance, growth, strategy, succession, internationalization, innovation and continuity.

Since research on governance in family businesses has great potential to contribute to the wider field of corporate governance, we aim to create a forum where researchers can explore the many ways in which research on family business governance can inform and extend the general knowledge on corporate governance. For this track we therefore encourage submissions from a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches that contribute to developing effective research projects addressing major theoretical and empirical debates in this area of research.

Coordinator:

Proponents

Name

Affiliation

E-mail

Wim Voordeckers

Hasselt University

wim.voordeckers@uhasselt.be

Other proponents

Name

Affiliation

Donata Mussolino

University of Naples Federico II, dmussoli@unina.it

Jolien Huybrechts

Maastricht University

(Specify from three to six keywords)

Keywords

Boards of directors

Ownership structure

Family governance

Relational governance

Firm outcomes

Topic _01

Family Firms and Stakeholders: CSR, Branding, Image and Reputation

Short Description

(Description of the general topics of this track, max. 100 words)

To be used in the website

Family firms represent an interesting context to analyze how stakeholders can influence, e.g., goal-setting, decision-making or other behavioral patterns that can be observed in organizations. In family business research, stakeholder theory is particularly applicable in the realms of Corporate Social Responsibility and family business branding, which investigates why and how family firms portray themselves as family-owned to their stakeholders. We invite scholars to submit manuscripts that address these or other topics related to stakeholder management in family firms and nurture the ongoing debate to contribute to this promising research stream that can help contribute towards a theory of family business.

Long description

(Description of the general topics of this track, max. 400 words)

To be included in a PDF file describing the topic

Stakeholders play a highly relevant role in the life of any company, as they may affect and be affected by the achievement of a company’s objectives (Freeman, 1984). Stakeholder theory investigates how companies can satisfy the interests of their diverse stakeholders, assuming that the long-term survival of a firm depends on the continuous cooperation of its numerous constituents (Donaldson & Preston, 1995). Family firms represent a particularly interesting arena to analyze how stakeholders can influence, for example, the goal setting, decision-making or other behavioral patterns that can be observed in organizations. As compared to non-family companies, stakeholder management in family firms is comparably more complex due to the “intimate involvement of family members [which] often results in different goals and behaviors than what is typically found to exist in non-family firms” (Mitchell et al., 2011, p. 235).

The management of a family firm’s diverse stakeholders has become an important topic in family business research, e.g., in the realms of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) – which has been defined as a company’s voluntary contribution to sustainable development which goes beyond legal requirements (Carroll, 2000; Crane & Matten, 2007). There has been a growing interest in questions such as whether the owning family’s involvement influences how the firm responds to its stakeholders’ ethical and environmental demands (Deniz & Suarez, 2005; Fitzgerald et al., 2010). While prior research indicates that family firms may be more likely to adopt CSR practices, our understanding as to how other stakeholders contribute to family firm CSR, how CSR practices in family and non-family firms differ, and ultimately, how hey affect family firm performance, remains limited.

Another area of research where stakeholder theory is applicable is family business branding, the question of why and how family firms portray themselves as family-owned to their stakeholders. Several studies have found that family firms may benefit from signaling their family firm status to their stakeholders (Binz et al., 2013; Craig et al., 2008; Kashmiri & Mahajan, 2010; Zellweger et al., 2012). However, despite these assumed positive effects of a distinct family firm image, little is still known as to how exactly branding the family firm affects different stakeholders’ perceptions of family owned firms, and how it contributes to firm performance.

We invite scholars to submit manuscripts that address these or other topics related to stakeholder management in family firms and nurture the ongoing debate to contribute to this promising research stream.

Coordinator:

Proponents

Name

Affiliation

E-mail

Giovanna Campopiano

Witten/Herdecke University, Germany

Giovanna.Campopiano@uni-wh.de

Other proponents

Name

Affiliation

Claudia Binz Astrachan

Lucerne School of Business, Switzerland

Edward Freeman

University of Virginia, USA

Justin Craig

Northeastern University, USA

(Specify from three to six keywords)

Keywords

Stakeholders

CSR

Branding

Image

Reputation

Competitive Advantage

(Indicate the title for the standing track)

Topic _02

Family Business in Emerging, Developing, and Transition Economies

(Description of the general topics of this track) (max 100 words)

Short Description

To be used in the website

Family businesses dominate the economic landscape around the world. The family business field has received increasing attention in academia in the last two decades.  However, most findings in the field come from developed countries. Developing, emerging, and transition economies are underrepresented in the field. Such absence restricts theorizing about family businesses. The aim of this special track is to increase understanding about family businesses by encouraging further research on specific environments/contexts by contextualizing theory (theories in context) and/or theorizing about contexts (theories of context) in developing, emerging and transition economies.

(Description of the general topics of this track) (max 400 words)

Long description

To be included in a PDF file describing the topic

Family businesses dominate the economic landscape around the world. While considerable attention has been given to family businesses in academia the vast majority of research focuses on developed countries. This is evident as more than 85% of research findings (qualitative or quantitative) published about family businesses in leading journals in the last three years uses samples from developed counties. Developing, emerging, and transition economies are underrepresented in family business field.

Theorizing about family businesses has followed three main paths: borrow and replication, borrow and extending and inverse contribution (Pérez Rodríguez & Basco, 2011). Yet each approach has focused mainly on family business per se (Jansen & Basco, 2014)with little attention to the context. While some recent descriptive studies have attempted to focus on the external environment (e.g. Gupta & Levenburg, 2010), aiming to uncover the extent of family firm diversity across contexts, there is a timid focus on the context where family businesses are embedded into. Studies that acknowledge and explore further the context family businesses are embedded into would contribute significantly to the family business field (e.g. Aldrich & Pfeffer, 1976; Welter, 2011).  

The aim of this special track is to increase understanding about family businesses by focusing on specific environments/contexts - contextualizing theory (theories in context) and/or theorizing about context (theories of context) (Whetten, 2009), specifically in developing, emerging and transition economies (The International Monetary Fund’ list of developing countries is used to determine the countries that fall within such category).

We strongly believe that the track “Family Business in Emerging, Developing, and Transition Economies” at EURAM (European Academy of Management) will make several contributions to family business research. First, by contextualizing family businesses we may have better understanding of the diversity of family firms across contexts. Second, by contextualizing borrowed theories (agency theory, institutional theory, etc.), we expect to test the applicability of mainstream theories to family business in specific contexts. Finally, by theorizing about the effects of context on family businesses we expect to generate the discussions that could lead to a theory of the context for family businesses.

Coordinator:

Proponents

Name

Affiliation

E-mail

Basco, R.

Witten/Herdecke University, Germany

bascorodrigo@gmail.com

Other proponents

Name

Affiliation

Discua Cruz, A.

Lancaster University, UK

Jimenez-Seminario, G.

Universidad del Desarrollo, Chile

Ramachandran, K.

Indian School of Business, India

Xin-chun, L.

Sun Yat-sen Business School, China

Welter, F.

Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM)

(Specify from three to six keywords)

Keywords

Family Business

Theory of context

Contextualizing family firms

Theory in context

Developing, Emerging and Transition economies

context and family firm

Topic _03

Family business goals, family dynamics, behavioral processes and innovation in family firms

Short Description

(Description of the general topics of this track, max. 100 words)

To be used in the website

The “Family business goals, family dynamics, behavioral processes and innovation in family firms” track aims to attract contributions which investigate both theoretically and empirically, the role of family business goals, family dynamics, behavioral processes and innovation in family firms. In particular, we solicit authors to submit empirical, conceptual, and literature review contributions promising in understanding the process of goal setting, the interplay between goals, family dynamics, behavioral processes and innovation management in family firm contexts.

We welcome the adoption of diverse theoretical and methodological approaches, and submissions by interdisciplinary, international, and mixed industry-academic co-author teams.

Long description

(Description of the general topics of this track, max. 400 words)

To be included in a PDF file describing the topic

The “Family business goals, family dynamics, behavioral processes and innovation in family firms” track aims to attract contributions which investigate both theoretically and empirically, the distinctive goals, values and motives that distinguish family form non-family firms, and the processes through which such goals produce distinctive innovation behaviors and outcomes.

Research examining innovation in family business is gaining momentum. Prior studies have shown that family firms differ from family firms in terms of innovation inputs, outputs and process (De Massis et al., 2012), and several scholars believe that a greater emphasis on family-centered economic and noneconomic goals may be a primary cause of such differences (Chrisman & Patel, 2012; Kotlar et al., 2014). However, we still know very little about the nature of such goals, their determinants, and how behavioral processes and family and business dynamics shape such goals (Kotlar & De Massis, 2013). Moreover, the processes and the mediating and intervening mechanisms through which family business goals influence innovation behavior and performance are largely unknown (De Massis et al., 2014). Hence, research that aims at opening the “black box” of family goals and their influence on innovation is much needed.

We solicit authors to submit empirical, conceptual, and literature review contributions promising in advancing current understanding of goals, family dynamics, behavioral processes and innovation behavior and performance in family firms. We welcome the adoption of diverse theoretical and methodological approaches, and submissions by interdisciplinary, international, and mixed industry-academic co-author teams.

Topics of interest include but are not restricted to the following broad ones:

·   Goal setting in family firms across the lifecycle

·   Goal conflicts and their impact on firm performance

·   The interplay between family dynamics and business dynamics

·   Behavioral processes in family firms affecting goal setting

·   The effects of family and business goals on innovation propensity

·   The role of family dynamics in the context of entrepreneurial orientation and innovation

·         Goal sets and their influence on the strategic importance of radical innovation

·         Critical success factors for innovation in family firms

·         Open and collaborative innovation in family firms

·         Succession and transgenerational innovation in family firms

·         Innovation during the succession phase in family firms

·         Models of inter- and intra-organizational diffusion of innovation in family firms

·         Responding to disruptive innovation in family firms

·         Achieving ambidexterity in family firms

·         Financing innovation in family firms

·         Family ownership, family management and innovation performance

Coordinator:

Proponents

Name

Affiliation

E-mail

Alfredo De Massis

Centre for Family Business, IEED, Lancaster University Management School, UK

a.demassis@lancaster.ac.uk

Other proponents

Name

Affiliation

Jess Chua

Centre for Family Business Management & Entrepreneurship Finance, University of Calgary, US

Josip Kotlar

Centre for Family Business, IEED, Lancaster University Management School, UK

Reinhard Prügl

Friedrichshafen Institute for Family Entrepreneurship, Zeppelin University, Germany

(Specify from three to six keywords)

Keywords

Family business

Goals

Family dynamics

Behavioral processes

Innovation

Succession

- The FBR SIG Committee assigns every year the “FBR SIG BEST PAPER AWARD” to one accepted paper, which has got the highest scores during the review process.

- The FBR SIG Committee assigns every year the “FBR SIG BEST REVIEWER AWARD” to one reviewer who has given his/her services for the FBR SIG EURAM 2014 reviewer activities.

Indicate the position here:

SIG Chair

Affiliation

E-mail

Donata Mussolino

University of Naples Federico II, Italy

dmussoli@unina.it

Indicate the position here

SIG Chair-Elect

Affiliation

E-mail

Alfredo De Massis

Centre for Family Business, IEED, Lancaster University Management School, UK

a.demassis@lancaster.ac.uk

Indicate the position here

SIG Program Chair

Affiliation

E-mail

Reinhard Pruegl

Zeppelin University, Friedrichshafen, Germany

reinhard.pruegl@zu.de

Indicate the position here

SIG Program Chair-Elect

Affiliation

E-mail

Massimo Baù

Jönköping International Business School, Sweden

massimo.bau@jibs.hj.se

Indicate the position here

SIG Treasurer

Affiliation

E-mail

Giovanna Campopiano

Witten/Herdecke University, Germany

Giovanna.Campopiano@uni-wh.de

Indicate the position here

SIG Secretary

Affiliation

E-mail

Jana Hauck

Zeppelin University, Friedrichshafen, Germany

jana.hauck@zu.de