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This conceptual, multi-voiced paper aims to collectively explore and theorize family entrepreneuring, which is a research stream dedicated to investigating the emergence and becoming of entrepreneurial phenomena in business families and family firms.

Because of the novelty of this research stream, the authors asked 20 scholars in entrepreneurship and family business to reflect on topics, methods and issues that should be addressed to move this field forward.

Authors highlight key challenges and point to new research directions for understanding family entrepreneuring in relation to issues such as agency, processualism and context.

This study offers a compilation of multiple perspectives and leverage recent developments in the fields of entrepreneurship and family business to advance research on family entrepreneuring.

This study investigates the association between family firm status and the maturity level of management control systems (MCSs) by considering the moderating effect of process digitalization.

The authors conducted an empirical analysis on a sample of 106 Italian firms, utilizing both ordinary least squares and ordered logistic regression in this study.

By resorting to the MCS maturity model proposed by Marx et al. (2012), the empirical findings reveal that family firms do not differ from their nonfamily counterparts regarding MCS maturity. Furthermore, the degree of process digitalization is positively associated with the probability of adopting IT-related technologies in MCSs. Digitalization negatively moderates the relationship between family firm status and MCS maturity, resulting in family firms exhibiting a lower MCS maturity level than their nonfamily counterparts.

Despite similar efforts in the digitalization process, family firms lag behind in the adoption of IT-enabled MCSs, which suggests that reduced agency issues in family firms constrain the MCS maturity level.

This study can assist practitioners in implementing a more mature MCS by considering the interplay between internal digitalization processes and family status of the firm, thereby enhancing the decision-making process.

This study adds novelty to an underexplored area at the intersection of MCSs, family firms and digitalization.

The individual perspective of dynamic capabilities and family firms could be useful to shed light on the relationship between these topics, considering not only the heterogeneity of family businesses but above all the diversity of their collaborators, highlighting the underlying elements through which these firms are sustained.

This paper is based on systematic research, considering the most relevant literature about dynamic capabilities and family firms.

Findings highlight the individual perspective of dynamic capabilities and family firms, where we identify the main elements that family businesses must be aware of to be more innovative: high knowledge management/social capital, high entrepreneurial mindset/orientation, high tradition (retrospective and prospective), high empowering leadership, high next generation involvement, extended SEW (long-term perspective), risk-neutral, low conservative/inertia/paternalism and low emotionally attached.

The paper analyzes relevant studies on dynamic capabilities and family firms, proposing a research agenda with questions for further inquiries that cover inertia, paternalism, digital transformation and the individual perspective of dynamic capabilities and family firms. In addition, the authors provide practical implications for these topics.

There is still an ongoing debate on the value relevance of capital structure and its determinants. Recently the issue has been explored in family firms after being explored in mature firms. This paper investigates the role of institutional investors and the firm's innovation activity in influencing the firm's decision and ability to acquire debt capital.

A large sample of 700 privately-held family firms in Italy from 2010 to 2019. Two analysis techniques are used: panel analysis and path analysis. The value of debt and the debt ratio are used as leverage measures. The value of patent (as a proxy for innovation) and institutional investor are the explanatory variables.

The results show that institutional investors have no relationship with financial leverage measures except when controlling for an interaction variable (Institutional investors × Lombardy region). The patent value is positively correlated with debt; however, the ratio patent-to-asset is negatively related to financial leverage indicating higher risk exposure. The nonlinearity test demonstrates a turning point when the relationship between patent value and debt inverts.

Firms should monitor their innovation activity since excessive innovation increases risk exposure and affects financing opportunities and value. The involvement of institutional investors does not always enhance value.

Existing literature focuses separately on family firm innovations and financial leverage as outcome variables, emphasizing the role of institutional investors in both fields by adopting agency theory and socioemotional wealth framework. In this study, the authors go further by merging both relationships, investigating the dynamics of the institutional-family firm innovation relationship in influencing the firm's capital structure. The authors contribute to the ongoing debate by providing original findings on capital structure, governance and innovation, supported by rigorous methods to enhance family firms' decision-making.

This paper aims to examine how organisational values affect diversity in terms of different competencies in rural family Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). Recruiting a diverse workforce in rural family SMEs can be particularly difficult due to the prevalence of internal family values and the lack of available local specialised competencies. A deficiency of diversity in employment and competence acquisition and development can create problems, as it often prevents rural family SMEs from recruiting employees with a wide variety of qualifications and skills.

The study takes on a multi-case method of Swedish rural family SMEs, applying a qualitative content analysis approach. In total, 20 in-depth structured interviews are conducted with rural family SME owners and 2 industries were investigated and compared – the tourism and the manufacturing industries.

Rural family SMEs lack long-term employment strategies, and competence diversity does not appear to be a priority for rural family SMEs, as they often have prematurely decided who they will hire rather than what competencies are needed for their long-term business development. It is more important to keep the team of employees tight and the family spirit present than to include competence diversity and mixed qualifications in the employment acquisition and development.

Contrary to prior research, our findings indicate that rural family SMEs apply short-term competence diversity strategies rather than long-term prospects regarding competence acquisition and management, due to their family values and rural setting, which strictly narrows the selection of employees and competencies. Also, a general reluctance towards competence diversity is identified, which originates from the very same family values and rural context.