Internationalization of Small Family Firms: The Influence of Family from a Socioemotional Wealth Perspective

This article systematically reviews and critically examines 72 journal articles published (from 1980 to 2012) on the internationalization of family firms. Stemming from existing literature, core aspects and main gaps are identified. We aim to overcome the inconclusiveness of findings of previous research by offering an integrative theoretical model integrating the concept of socioemotional wealth with the revised Uppsala model. Our framework helps understand behaviors of internationalizing family firms by focusing on when and how they internationalize, especially related to risk attitudes, the role of knowledge and networks. Ultimately, we provide future research themes flowing from our suggested model.

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The ability-willingness paradox of small family firms to collaborate for innovation

Academy of Management Proceedings ◽

10.5465/ambpp.2021.184 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2021 (1) ◽

pp. 12520

Author(s):

Maksim Belitski ◽

Christina Guenther ◽

Nada Khachlouf

Keyword(s):

Family Firms ◽

Small Family

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Family Ownership Goals and Socioemotional Wealth: Evidence from Finnish Family Firms

Journal of Enterprising Culture ◽

10.1142/s0218495818500085 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 26 (02) ◽

pp. 207-224 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Mariateresa Torchia ◽

Marita Rautiainen ◽

Andrea Calabrò ◽

Tuuli Ikäheimonen ◽

Timo Pihkala ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Survey Data ◽

Goal Setting ◽

Family Firms ◽

Family Ownership ◽

Socioemotional Wealth ◽

Ownership Status ◽

Impact On Family

By focusing on family owners’ perceptions and dynamics the aim of this paper is to understand the specific goals associated to their ownership status and whether and to what extend they impact on family firms’ growth and continuity. We use survey data on Finnish family firms and identify a set of differentiated family owners’ goals. Our findings contribute to the debate on differentiating socioemotional wealth by untangling the existence of variations in family principals’ goal setting and the importance to also consider that financial motives could determine family owners’ goals.

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How Does Family Involvement Affect Environmental Innovation? A Socioemotional Wealth Perspective

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su132313114 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (23) ◽

pp. 13114

Author(s):

Joohee Han ◽

Juil Lee ◽

Sang-Joon Kim

Keyword(s):

Family Involvement ◽

Environmental Performance ◽

Boards Of Directors ◽

Family Firms ◽

Technological Development ◽

Environmental Issues ◽

Environmental Innovation ◽

Socioemotional Wealth ◽

Public Firms ◽

Positive Effect

The purpose of this study was to examine how family involvement affects the environmental innovation of firms. While prior studies have shown that family involvement can enhance environmental performance, these environmental performances have been portrayed as firm activities to prevent environmental issues, such as air pollution, CO2 emissions, etc. We maintain that environmental performance should be more proactive and enable firms to transform their activities more fundamentally towards environmental protection. In this sense, we consider environmental innovation, i.e., technological development to address environmental issues, as a proactive measure enacting firm activities to address environmental issues. Furthermore, we determine whether and how family involvement can motivate firms to develop technologies for environmental performance. To illuminate this relation, we utilized a socioemotional wealth perspective, which provides useful insights into how family-controlled firms behave differently in comparison to non-family firms. Building on this socioemotional wealth approach, we suggest that family involvement helps firms engage in environmental innovation. In this study, we also explore how the positive link between family involvement and environmental innovation is dependent on family interlocks—the circumstance wherein a firm’s family directors are affiliated with the boards of directors of other firms. Specifically, we suggest that an increase in a firm’s family interlocks would strengthen the positive relationship between family involvement and environmental innovation. To test our ideas, we used a sample of 623 US public firms ranging from 1996 to 2010, which yielded 5047 firm-year observations. We find that family involvement facilitates the environmental innovation of firms. We also find that family interlocks intensify the positive effect of family involvement on environmental innovation. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and empirical implications of our results.

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Earnings Quality in Acquired and Nonacquired Family Firms

Family Business Review ◽

10.1177/0894486513486343 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 26 (4) ◽

pp. 374-386 ◽

Cited By ~ 49

Author(s):

Federica Pazzaglia ◽

Stefano Mengoli ◽

Elena Sapienza

Keyword(s):

Family Firms ◽

Earnings Quality ◽

Socioemotional Wealth

We develop a socioemotional wealth explanation for the differences in earnings quality between family firms. We argue that the process by which families obtain ownership of firms is a key contingency affecting earnings quality. Specifically, firms acquired by families through market transactions display lower earnings quality due to lower identification of family owners relative to firms still owned by the families that created them. Acquired family firms benefit with respect to their earnings quality from having a nonfamily CEO while nonacquired family firms benefit from having a family CEO.

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Small family business in Russia: formal or informal?

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy ◽

10.1108/ijssp-04-2017-0046 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 38 (9/10) ◽

pp. 809-822 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Alexander Chepurenko

Keyword(s):

Family Business ◽

Family Firms ◽

Family Members ◽

Family Businesses ◽

Entrepreneurial Activity ◽

Small Scale ◽

Content Type ◽

Small Family ◽

Scale Family ◽

Russian State

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to deal with informal entrepreneurial activity of micro and small family businesses in the specific transitional environment. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses two cases – an informal micro business (“marginal” family business), and a formal retail small firm (“simpleton” family firm), respectively, of a panel conducted in 2013–2015 in Moscow. Findings First, the real distribution of responsibilities between family members is informal; it relies more on interpersonal trust and “common law.” Second, exactly the ease of governing such trust-based businesses for the founders’ generation sets limits of succession of small-scale family businesses. Third, as trust in the state is very low, the policy of Russian authorities to quickly force informal entrepreneurs to become legalized is substantially wrong; the results would be either a transformation of “simpleton” into “marginal” businesses or quitting business. Research limitations/implications Research limitations of the study are the number of observations and the localization of the panel only in the capital of Russia. Practical implications The fundamental failure of Russian State policy toward small-scale family businesses is its attempt to convince “marginal” to formalize and to oppress “simpleton” family businesses pushing them into informality. In fact, it should be designed vice versa: tolerate “marginal” businesses and let them to “live and die” while shaping a friendly environment for “simpleton” family firms. Originality/value The paper argues that the most important facet of informality in small family entrepreneurship is the informal property rights and governance duties’ distribution among the family members.

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Hierarchical Dyadic Congruence in Family Firms: The Interplay of Supervisor and Supervisee Socioemotional Wealth Importance and Familial Status

Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice ◽

10.1177/1042258718796075 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 43 (2) ◽

pp. 322-329 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Giovanna Campopiano ◽

Emanuela Rondi

Keyword(s):

Social Exchange ◽

Family Business ◽

Theoretical Basis ◽

Family Firms ◽

Socioemotional Wealth ◽

Organization Behavior ◽

Fine Grained ◽

The Family ◽

And Performance ◽

The Relationship

We extend McLarty, Vardaman, and Barnett’s analysis of how family firm supervisor attributes, in terms of familial status and socioemotional wealth importance, affect supervisee performance by considering the supervisee attributes. We further integrate the concept of restricted and generalized social exchange to provide a theoretical basis for how hierarchical dyadic (in)congruence moderates the relationship between supervisee commitment and performance. By providing a more fine-grained conceptualization, we contribute to the family business literature at its organization behavior interface.

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Socioemotional wealth and human resource policies: effects on family firm performance

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research ◽

10.1108/ijebr-05-2021-0404 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Juan David Peláez-León ◽

Gregorio Sánchez-Marín

Keyword(s):

High Risk ◽

Financial Performance ◽

Human Resource ◽

Family Firms ◽

Equation Modeling ◽

Positive Contribution ◽

Socioemotional Wealth ◽

Content Type ◽

Firm Financial Performance ◽

The Relationship

PurposeThis study analyses whether human resource management (HRM), through the use of four sets of high-performance work policies (HPWPs) (i.e. selection, training, motivation and opportunity policies), mediates the relationship between socioemotional wealth (SEW)—defined as a unique set of nonfinancial family goals—and firm financial performance when family firms face a high-risk context.Design/methodology/approachHypotheses were statistically tested using a structural equation modeling (SEM) methodology with a cross-sectional sample of 196 medium-sized and private family firms in a high-risk context in Spain.FindingsThe results indicate that the relationship between SEW and financial performance in family firms is fully mediated by the use of HPWPs, especially by training and motivation HR policies. The importance given to preserving SEW influences the use of four sets of HPWPs when family firms show clear evidence of being confronted by a financial decline (i.e. a high-risk context). However, to improve their financial results to avoid the firm's failure and thus the loss of their SEW, only those HR policies that focus on training and motivation made a significant and positive contribution to the firm financial performance.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature on family firms and HRM by adopting an alternative theoretical framework to understand how the importance of nonfinancial family goals may affect employee structures and management policies, thereby improving financial performance in family firms.

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