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The purpose of this study was to understand how the family system plays a role in knowledge sharing (KS) within family firms. The authors argue that the family’s influence can occur through two routes. An external route in which the family affects the culture of the organization and through an internal route in which family leadership within the firm affects the practices and behaviors within the business.

Data for this project came from the survey responses of 93 Spanish family firms.

The findings expand previous understanding about KS in family firms by outlining the two routes through which the family can have positive effect on KS within family firms. Results show that family system characteristics (i.e. next-generation commitment, family trust and intergenerational relationships) affect KS through their impact on the participative culture of a family firm. Additionally, when a family has been in control of the business for more generations, they place higher importance on family legacy and continuity, which is likely to strengthen the relationship between participative culture and KS in family firms.

Given the important role that the family system plays within the family business, this paper explored how family characteristics can influence KS in family firms. The authors contribute to the literature by highlighting the importance that the owning family can have in creating an environment that can facilitate KS in family firms.

Given the relevance of family businesses and the substantial weight that they carry within the socio‐economic make‐up of any country, this paper consists of the analysis of family firms to explore whether there are any differences between companies which grow at a faster rate than the family and those in which the family grows at a greater rate than the company, in terms of their process of succession and the professionalisation of the people involved and the methods of management. The purpose of this paper is to differentiate between different groups of family businesses through a set of independent variables.

The paper opted for discriminant analysis as an appropriate statistical tool, since it allowed the assigning of an individual to a pre‐defined group (dependent variable) on the basis of a number of characteristics (independent variables). A total of 180 family businesses were analysed.

The results of the study show that significant differences exist between family firms where the family grows more than the company and those where the company grows more than the family. Each group has a different vision. The former is more oriented towards meeting their family needs through the company, whereas the latter is more oriented towards business and professional efficiency.

One of the limitations arises from the fact that the question concerning the rate of growth of the company and the family is a “self‐reported” question that can lead to bias due to the subjective perception of growth. Other limitations arise from the cross‐cutting and exploratory nature of the research.

This paper analyses the differences between family firms where the family grows more than the company and those where the company grows more than the family.

By investigating the reactions of family businesses to COVID-19 pandemic this article aims to explaining how family firms are capable to preserve employment during hardship.

Stemming from resource-based-view, we theorise that familiness is not directly associated with new hiring but instead fully mediated by pivoting strategic decisions (the propensity to transform the business).

Our findings show that familiness triggers pivoting strategic decisions and consequently increases the likelihood of new hiring. Additionally, we found that the involvement of multiple generations strengthens this relationship.

Family firms must consolidate their family human and social resources (familiness) and assure the presence of multiple generations in the firm because they can leverage their entrepreneurial disposition and increase the need to preserve employment and new hires during crises.

The main contribution lies in the explanation of the mechanisms that family firms deploy to overcome a crisis and thus explains why some family firms are more resilient than others in relation to firm’s employment during hardship.