Revealing the family

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Kahlert ◽  
Isabel C. Botero ◽  
Reinhard Prügl
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Job Security ◽  
Family Ownership ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Advancement Opportunities ◽  
European Context ◽  
Applicant Perceptions ◽  
The Family ◽  
Organizational Age

Purpose Attracting and retaining a skilled labor force represents an important source for competitive advantage for organizations. In the European context, one of the greatest challenges that small- and medium-sized family firms face is attracting high quality non-family applicants. Researchers argue that one of the reasons for this difficulty is tied to the perception that non-family applicants have about family firms as a place to work. The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceptions that applicants have about family firms and their willingness to work in family firms in the German context. Design/methodology/approach Using principles from signaling theory, an experiment was conducted to explore the effects that information about family ownership and organizational age had on the perceptions about a firm (i.e. job security, advancement opportunities, prestige, task diversity, and compensation), and applicant’s attractiveness to it. Findings Based on the responses from 125 individuals in Germany, the authors found that explicitly communicating information about family ownership did not influence applicant perceptions about the firm or attractiveness to it. Although, information about organizational age affected perceptions of compensation, it did not affect attractiveness to the firm. Originality/value This study presents one of the first papers that focuses on the perceptions that non-family applicants have about family firms as a place to work in the European context. Thus, it provides a baseline for comparison to applicant perceptions in other European countries.

Does family ownership affect the profitability of construction and real estate firms? Evidence from India

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-124
Author(s):  
Harish Kumar Singla
Keyword(s):  
Real Estate ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Family Ownership ◽  
Unequal Variance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Agency Conflict ◽  
The Family ◽  
Firm Profitability

Purpose The study aims to find if family-owned construction and real estate firms in India are more profitable compared to non-family-owned construction and real estate firms. The study also examines if family ownership and institutional ownership are drivers of the firm profitability. Design/methodology/approach The study uses data of 199 construction and real estate firms listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), India. The data pertains to a period of 13 years (2006-2018). The family firm is defined on the basis on ownership criteria, and the sample is divided into two groups, namely, family firms and non-family firms. The data is analyzed using a two-sample t-test assuming unequal variance and Prais–Winsten panel regression using correlated panels with corrected standard errors (PCSEs) procedure. Findings The findings suggest that family-owned construction and real estate firms are slightly more profitable compared to non-family-owned construction and real estate firms; however, family firms command lesser valuation in the market. The reason for this lower valuation is the mismatch between family holding and institutional holding. A family firm’s profitability is primarily driven by institutional holding that acts as mitigation against the agency conflict. Originality/value The paper is the first attempt to analyze the profitability of construction and real estate family firms, and compare it with non-family-owned construction and real estate firms.

The strength of the board on sustainability assurance decisions

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 863-886 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Martinez-Ferrero ◽  
Lázaro Rodríguez-Ariza ◽  
Isabel María García-Sánchez
Keyword(s):  
Random Effects ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Family Businesses ◽  
Family Ownership ◽  
Logit Models ◽  
Board Size ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sustainability Reports

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze how family ownership influences the strength of the board’s monitoring function in companies’ decisions regarding the assurance of sustainability reports. Design/methodology/approach The international sample consists of 536 companies operating in more stakeholder-oriented countries during the period 2007-2014. The paper proposes alternative logit models of analysis using the random-effects estimator. Findings The results provide evidence that a firm’s sustainability assurance and its choice of accounting professionals as higher quality assurers are positively associated with board size and independence. The main result is the positive impact of family businesses on these assurance issues. The paper evidences the greater orientation toward sustainability issues of family businesses. Furthermore, it verifies the greater impact of board size on family firms’ assurance demand. Originality/value This study sheds some light on the unexplored topic of sustainability assurance in family firms. One of the differentiating aspects with respect to previous studies is the consideration of the moderating factor of family property. This study also contributes to the understanding of family firms’ demand for assurance and its practitioners, and the literature’s focus on its determinants.

Is family ownership of a firm associated with the control of managerial discretion and corporate decisions?

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Martinez Ferrero ◽  
Lázaro Rodríguez-Ariza ◽  
Manuel Bermejo-Sánchez
Keyword(s):  
Ownership Structure ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Managerial Discretion ◽  
Family Ownership ◽  
Managerial Decisions ◽  
Corporate Decisions ◽  
Type Design ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper considers the association between family firms and managerial discretion, hypothesising that a higher degree of family ownership may decrease the conflict of interest between owners and managers, thus avoiding the risk of discretionary actions by the latter. Design/methodology/approach Our empirical analysis is based on a large sample of international listed companies from 20 countries including the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong and covers the period 2002–2010. Methodologically, we use a logit model with marginal effects on the panel data. Findings Our analysis shows that family ownership is associated with greater control and monitoring of managerial decisions, thus avoiding information asymmetries and, therefore, the risk of discretionary actions. In other words, family owners impose a stronger discipline and dissuade non-family managers from using managerial discretion to act in their own interest. Finally, we clarify the inconclusive results reported previously about the effects of family ownership on discretionary practices. Originality/value Our paper contributes to the family firm literature by providing evidence of the impact of ownership structure on the level of discretionay practices. Furthermore, we explore the differences between family and non-family firms as each group has its own varied characteristics. Moreover, in contrast to most previous studies, which have focused on only one country, we extend the analysis to include an international sample of 20 countries. This leads to potentially more powerful and generalizable results.

Socio-emotional wealth and family: revisiting the connection

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 288-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Schulze
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Family Business ◽  
Operations Management ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Research Focus ◽  
Family Dynamic ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Family ◽  
Complex Relationships

Purpose In this commentary, the author aims to question whether the socio-emotional wealth (SEW) construct should be limited to family firms by noting that non-family owners and founders, i.e. those who yet have to involve family in their enterprise‘s operations, management or ownership, are also motivated to maximize their socioemotional wealth. Design/methodology/approach The concept of SEW has generated significant traction in the family business literature and motivated an important body of work about how SEW alters decision-making in family firms. Professors Martin and Gomez–Mejia (this issue) extend past contributions by teasing apart complex relationships among the underlying dimensions of the construct. However, the domain of that paper, as well as the SEW construct, has heretofore been limited to family firms. The author builds his commentary on the work of Martin and Gomez–Mejia (this issue) to argue that the notion that SEW shapes decision-making in the owner controlled and owner-managed non-family firms, as well as family firms. Findings The author’s overarching conclusion is that there are several dimensions in which family interests materially alter decision-making but others in which family likely plays a moderating and possibly even a suppressor role. The surprising implication is that it may not be SEW per se that distinguishes family firms from non-family firms but rather how the family dynamic alters the influence of SEW on outcomes of interest. Originality/value Acknowledging that personal and familial SEW have a common foundation allows one to sharpen the research focus and shift it from questions about how SEW might alter decision-making in family firms to questions about how the presence of family members alters the influence of SEW on decision-making in owner-controlled and owner-managed firms. This commentary explicates the argument and offers some suggestions about how this re-framing might allow for the extension of the SEW concept from the family firm to its influence on founder-managed and non-family firms.

The auditor as consigliere in family firm

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sven-Olof Yrjö Collin ◽  
Jenny Ahlberg ◽  
Karin Berg ◽  
Pernilla Broberg ◽  
Amelie Karlsson
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Response Rate ◽  
Family Firm ◽  
Social Implications ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Family ◽  
Professional Independence ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a concept of auditor as consigliere in family firms, that captures additional functions to monitoring, those of advice, mediating, and conveying. Design/methodology/approach The concept is tested through a survey conducted on 309 Swedish auditors. Findings The data indicate that the consigliere role is generally not emphasized, indicating that auditors primarily perform the monitoring role of the audit. However, the authors do find indications of the auditor performing the consigliere role, through performing the advisory and mediating functions and, to a smaller degree, the conveying function. Research limitations/implications The survey is limited in response rate and in separating governance situations from consigliere functions. Practical implications With reservation for professional independence, the auditor as consigliere could be part of the governance of the family firm, but should be trained for this activity. Social implications Regulators should pay attention to the consigliere role when, for example, stipulating compulsory rotation of auditors. Originality/value The paper shows that the auditor is more than a monitor in family firms. The consigliere role, even if not at all dominating, has to be considered, at least in family firms.

Do dissimilarities in the family involvement in family firms lead to different levels of indebtedness? Evidence from Spain

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
María Comino-Jurado ◽  
Sonia Sánchez-Andújar ◽  
Purificación Parrado-Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Family Involvement ◽  
Family Business ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Governance Structure ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Family ◽  
Family Business Group ◽  
Different Levels

PurposeThis paper examines how differences in the family involvement in a family business can influence its level of indebtedness. Assuming the influence of family is not the same for all family firms, we consider each company as a combination of the family involvement in three dimensions of the business: ownership, management and governance structure.Design/methodology/approachUsing the partial least squares technique allows us to address the heterogeneity of family firms through an integral concept of family involvement in business that jointly considers the level of family participation in the ownership, management and governance structure of each firm.FindingsOur results demonstrate that the level of family involvement in a family firm, considering the heterogeneity existing within the family business group, directly influences its level of indebtedness. In addition, we find that family involvement in ownership and governance structures individually considered are positively related to the level of indebtedness of the family business.Originality/valueOur findings prove that some indebtedness patterns, which previous literature has described as common to all Spanish family businesses, may actually be valid only for specific family firms with a particular level of family involvement. In addition, the way of measuring family business heterogeneity through our integral concept of family involvement can be replicated by other authors because of the manageability of the items, thus contributing to an increased understanding of the effects of family involvement in firms' development.

Family firms in Ibero-America: an introduction

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 219-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria José Parada ◽  
Claudio Müller ◽  
Alberto Gimeno
Keyword(s):  
Family Business ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Family Governance ◽  
Economic Context ◽  
The Family ◽  
Business Dynamics ◽  
And Behavior

Purpose This paper highlights the importance of understanding family firms in different contexts. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the characteristics and behavior of family firms in Ibero-America, and their contribution and fit to the broader field of research. Based on the five articles in this special issue, this paper attempts to give an overview of their main contributions. Design/methodology/approach This paper explains in a contextual and analytical way the contributions of five papers that focus their attention on Ibero-American family firms, by linking them to the current research in the field and finding their fit within the broader field of family business. Tackling different topics, these five papers discuss about the comparison between family vs non-family businesses, innovation in family firms, and governance in family firms Findings Findings suggest that there is a need to stimulate research in family business in Ibero-America, especially Latin America, regarding family business dynamics, the different roles of the family within the enterprise, family governance, and the role of women. With regards to innovation the cultural and economic context play an important role in how they perform innovative activities. Originality/value This paper contributes to further understanding family firms by discussing the importance of the context and by linking all five papers with the broader literature in family business. The introduction also discusses topics worth to be further researched in Ibero-America.

scholarly journals Employer branding and psychological contract in family and non-family firmsEmployer branding e contrato psicológico em empresas familiares e não familiaresEmployer branding y contrato psicológico en empresas familiares y no familiares

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Duarte Pimentel ◽  
Pedro Almeida ◽  
Pedro Marques-Quinteiro ◽  
Marta Sousa
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Psychological Contract ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Employer Branding ◽  
Private Companies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess differences between employees of family and non-family firms regarding their perceptions of employer branding and psychological contract levels. Moreover, focusing on family firms, the authors assess the relation between the employees’ perceptions of employer branding and the psychological contract levels. Design/methodology/approach The empirical evidence is provided by a sample of 165 Portuguese employees, 76 employees of family firms and 89 non-family firms’ employees, who responded to a questionnaire that included employer branding and psychological contract measures. All respondents study in small and medium-sized private companies. Findings The results confirmed the research hypotheses, suggesting that employees of family companies show higher perceptions of employer branding and psychological contract levels than employees of non-family companies. Results also reveal that the perceptions of employer branding are positively related to the psychological contract levels of the family firm’s employees. Originality/value This paper aims to contribute to the literature by addressing two contemporary organizational aspects yet under-addressed in the comparison between family and non-family firms while pursuing to offer insights on the relationship between the perceptions of employer branding and levels of the psychological contract of employees working in family firms.

scholarly journals Accounting for family and business overlaps

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Quinn ◽  
Martin Hiebl ◽  
Romilda Mazzotta ◽  
Stefania Veltri
Keyword(s):  
Family Business ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Contemporary Literature ◽  
Family Ownership ◽  
Business Systems ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Family ◽  
Business Perspective ◽  
Circle Model ◽  
Over Time

Purpose This paper aims to draw on a family business perspective to explore the historic accounting records of an Italian liquorice juice business. The applicability of the three-circle model of family business systems to such an historic context is examined. Design/methodology/approach Using archival records, the Cassa accounting book of the business is studied. Its transactions are examined to distinguish family and business items over the period from 1875 to 1920. Findings Through an analysis of the accounting records, the family, ownership and business systems are shown to overlap more than typically expected in a contemporary setting. Originality/value Contemporary literature suggests the three-circle model of a family business is relatively static, but it has not been applied to an historic context. This study suggests that the model can be applied in historic studies, but it is not static over time with its elements needing refinement.

Does a second-generation returnee make the family firm more entrepreneurial?

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 287-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Fu ◽  
Steven Si
Keyword(s):  
Family Firms ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
Corporate Entrepreneurship ◽  
Family Ownership ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Family ◽  
Impact On Family ◽  
Industry And Commerce ◽  
Short Time ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose This paper aims to focus on a special group of people in family firms in China, the second generation who are returnees, and to study their impact on family ownership and corporate entrepreneurship. Design/methodology/approach Survey data from China’s private enterprises in 2015 were used to test the hypotheses. Data were collected through a joint effort by the China Federation of Industry and Commerce and the School of Management of Zhejiang University. The authors used a stratified sampling method, and questionnaires were distributed to 12 provinces in East, Central and West China. Two sets of questionnaires were distributed and answered. Findings Compared with those family firms without second-generation returnees, the relationship between family ownership and corporate entrepreneurship is significantly enhanced in family firms that have second-generation returnees. Furthermore, compared with the second-generation returnees who stay overseas for a short time, returnees who stay overseas longer are more likely to promote corporate entrepreneurship. Originality/value This study explores the unique characteristics of second-generation returnees and explores these returnees’ impact on family ownership and corporate entrepreneurship in the Chinese context. This could generate a new value to the family entrepreneurship literature.

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