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Although it has been implicitly or explicitly assumed that family business professionalization is indeed a multidimensional construct, there has been a tendency to confine it to the employment of nonfamily managers and delegating authority in academic research. Dekker et al. (2013) have made an impressive work in untangling the multidimensional structure of family business professionalization. This paper aims to introduce a more comprehensive multidimensional approach and a framework to understand and study family business professionalization by identifying additional dimensions.

The conceptual framework relies on insights derived from the literature on family business professionalization, occupational professionalism and organizational professionalism to reveal the broader multidimensionality of family business professionalization.

The proposed framework extends the definition of family business professionalization and offers additional dimensions which were grouped under five overarching headings: professionalization of management, professionalization of organizational structure, processes and operations, professionalization of family's relationship with business, professionalization of employees and professionalization of work environment and culture.

This paper contributes to the literature by providing a wider approach for the understanding of family business professionalization. It presents a new way of thinking about family business professionalization, underlining the importance of employees and organizational culture for the professionalization process in family firms.

This study aims to broaden the multidimensional conceptualization of family business professionalization, and to investigate how professionalization influences the financial performance of family firms, in the context of private family firms.

Taking a quantitative research approach, the study empirically examines the effect of professionalization on family firm performance, using a sample of 111 privately held Turkish family firms. The hypotheses were tested using regression analysis and the independent samples t-test.

The results indicate that the professionalization of family businesses has a positive effect on their financial performance, and the professionalization of employees is the prominent dimension of professionalization in this effect.

This study advances the understanding of how professionalization influences family firm performance by providing additional empirical evidence regarding the positive influence of multifaceted family business professionalization on financial performance.

The professionalization framework depicted in this study helps owners, managers, or consultants of family businesses assess the professionalization level of their firm and understand the performance effects of each of the family business professionalization dimensions on financial performance. It can also serve as a roadmap for family firms to professionalize and achieve better performance.

Unlike previous studies, this study incorporates employees, organizational culture and work environment, often neglected in the family business literature, into the multidimensional family business professionalization construct, thus extending previous research. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of the relationship between family businesses professionalization and firm performance.

The purpose of this paper is to find evidence contributing to construction of the dimensions of personal values, professionalization and succession, as well as proposing a new theoretical framework (model) showing the relations between these dimensions and their factors.

A qualitative research approach was adopted, more precisely the case study method. Four Portuguese family firms were selected, with a total of 11 participants. The data-gathering techniques included the interview method, non-participative observation and documentary analysis. To ensure systematization and reliability of data, the content analysis method was used with the help of NVIVO software.

Based on the results, eight factors were obtained explaining the professionalization dimension, the succession dimension was formed of four factors and the personal values dimension was made up of three factors. It was also possible to demonstrate the relationships between personal values, professionalization and succession in family firms.

The results obtained here can provide information to help managers in this type of firm, for example, to know themselves better, about their values and beliefs and how these can help in their daily relationships, in both the family and business domain, as well as in decision making about aspects of succession and professionalization.

This research makes important contributions to studies considering the family firm context. It will help to fill part of the gap in existing studies involving the psychological aspects in family firm management. It also presents important results about personal values and their relations with succession and professionalization of family firm management, as well as adding value to recent studies on the socio-emotional wealth of this type of firm.

This study investigates the relationship between Total Quality Management (TQM) and internationalization in small family firms, focusing on the role that the dimensions of TQM may have as strategic resources to implement successful internationalization strategies.

Building on the Resource-Based View (RBV), the study is based on a single case study, and data were gathered through in-depth interviews with the family owner-manager.

Findings show that small family businesses that aim to operate in international markets have to invest constant attention toward TQM by developing strategies able to achieve excellence. More in detail, for small and medium family firms, TQM represents a driver to internationalize. Therefore, family-owned managers sustain that internationalization success depends on the increasing attention exhibited toward the following dimensions of quality, specifically on three main pillars: relationships, professionalization and long-term vision, which appear to be strategic resources in international markets. An interpretive model is proposed with a set of propositions.

Scholarly implications are threefold. First, findings contribute to the RBV theory by introducing the long-term vision as a strategic resource able to activate a loop between TQM and internationalization success. Second, results contribute to TQM literature, highlighting that it represents a driver to internationalize, and following a long-term perspective, its enhancement is stimulated by internationalization. Third, findings contribute to family business studies, underlining the relevance done of owners on professionalization as a strategic resource to ensure excellence and obtain success in overseas markets. The main drawback refers to the fact that results stemmed from one single case study. Further studies could deepen the analysis on multiple cases.

The proposed case study represents a best practice and can stimulate other entrepreneurs and consultants to invest in TQM to thrive internationalization strategies.

The current study, elucidating that TQM is the driver to stimulate family business internationalization, proposes an interpretive model to study TQM and internationalization in small and medium family firms.

The topic of dividend policies of private family-controlled firms has aroused the interest of corporate finance and governance scholars and practitioners alike. However, a lot of questions concerning the dividends in privately held family firms remain unanswered. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether a private family firm’s dividend payout is influenced by its degree of professionalization.

The hypotheses are tested on a sample of 492 small to medium-sized Belgian family-controlled businesses with Tobit regression models.

The results show that professionalized family-controlled firms pay higher dividends to their shareholders than do less-professionalized firms. In particular, the use of financial control systems, non-family involvement in governance systems, and the use of human resource control systems have a positive significant impact on the average level of dividend payout.

This study may be of interest to family business consultants and (potential) investors, as the results contradict the assumption that family businesses (especially those privately held) will always have a no or low dividend policy.

Investigating dividend payout in the context of other components than family ownership (in this case, professionalization) can broaden our understanding of dividend payout.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between family succession, professionalization and internationalization in family businesses within the Brazilian context.

The paper presents a multiple-case study method with three Brazilian family businesses that have at least two generations of the owning family involved in the business and an international presence of at least three years. In-depth interviews and secondary data were undertaken with family and non-family members of each case.

The authors' results show that a family business can boost its internationalization by introducing both succession planning and professionalization on international activities. As family members tend to be more risk-averse and focused on keeping the family business within the family, professionalization is a way of improving the firm's ability to expand internationally. This process tends to lead to lower performance by the firm for the first few months or the first year after the investment, but afterward, international performance tends to grow exponentially.

Only a few studies have been concerned on the relationship of these three dimensions. Thus, the research takes into account that professionalization and succession lead family businesses to improve their internationalization strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether sheltered employment centers (CEEs) which have a higher rate of professionalization of their managers have better economic returns than those that have a lower one.

A questionnaire has been drawn up for their managers. After collecting the answers, an index of professionalization classifies the CEEs with managers of high, medium and low levels of professionalism. This index is then correlated with the main financial ratios of companies.

The results show that companies with the highest level of managers’ professionalization, on average, have higher economic returns than companies with medium and low rates, although the difference is not very high. This study is an important contribution to academic literature, as it is the first to examine the professionalization of CEE managers.

Finally, this paper is not short of limitations. The number of responses is small but there are similar studies with similar response rates. Additionally, the scarcity of responses may suggest that there is a lack of interest about the utility of professionalization by some CEEs managers because, perhaps, they do not have the necessary competences to understand its importance in management.

This study has some main implications for stakeholders: first, CEEs must pay more attention to the professionalization of their management team, because professionalization can lead to meeting its goals and guaranteeing the firm’s growth. Second, training programs in skills and attitudes should be designed to strengthen these competencies. Moreover, managers of social firms should know that the establishment of strategic plans will be useful to identify new opportunities in the market.

Given the important role of these social firms for the employment of people with disabilities, training programs should be promoted by government in order to ensure the professionalization of these companies.

This research is an important contribution to the literature on this subject because there are no studies about the level of professionalization of CEEs, companies that represent an important value for the economy of a country.

This paper aims to examine the effects of socio-emotional wealth importance (SEWi) in family firms and family firm-specific HR practices, namely professionalization and bifurcation bias, on their entrepreneurial orientation (EO).

The paper surveyed 133 small and medium-sized family firms in the USA. The respondents were recruited through Prolific Academic.

When SEWi is low, a family firm becomes more similar to a non-family firm, thereby enjoying the benefits associated with EO. When SEWi is high, a family firm leverages the unique resources and capabilities specific to family firms. Moderate SEWi levels are associated with lower EO levels. Additionally, the results support the argument that professionalization (involving non-family managers, formalization and decentralization) fosters EO, while bifurcation bias hinders its development.

Unlike previous studies, this paper posits a non-linear, U-shaped relationship between SEWi and EO. It contributes to the field by empirically investigating the effects of professionalization and bifurcation bias on EO in family firms.

This paper addresses the phenomenon of venture capital firms which are also family businesses (VCFBs). The purpose of this paper is to explore and understand the phenomenon of VCFB by answering the following questions: What are the features of professionalization in VCFBs? And, how do professionalization and types of family businesses explain the strategies and governance of VCFBs?

As an explorative case study, it maps the Swedish venture capital (VC) industry and compares two VCFBs and their business investments with regard to strategy and governance.

By suggesting two major configurations, the study explains how family business development and levels of professionalization relate to differences in VCFBs’ strategies, which in turn, affect their governance. The personal VCFB features active owners who personally take responsibility roles and strongly focus on customers and relationships. The administrative VCFB strongly focuses on predetermined financial metrics, high ethical awareness among board members, and ongoing interplay between the active family board members and minority shareholders.

The study was conducted in Sweden and concerns Swedish VCFBs. The paper contributes to the literature by combining the two currently separate research streams, i.e. family business and VC, highlighting the importance and consequences of family ownership in VC businesses.

The present study provides stock market investors and stock analysts with a deeper understanding of VCFBs’ strategy incentives. By identifying the kind of VCFB and its relation to strategy, more reasonable assessments and analyses of the VCFBs’ actions will be possible. Family firms willing to accept VC-finance should consider the type of VC and the potential consequences of family ownership.

This study is the first to classify VC firms as family businesses. Moreover, it shows the features of professionalization in VCFBs by suggesting a set of configurations.

The purpose of this research is to study the influence of professionalization on Moroccan family businesses and the challenges that hinder its success.

The design is based on exploratory qualitative approach based on semi-directive interviews with 15 CEOs of unlisted Moroccan family businesses to gain a better understanding of CEOs' perceptions of management professionalization.

This research work gives rise to a result that professionalization helps family businesses cope with their competitive environment, improve the quality of strategic decisions and thus increase their performance. However, successful professionalization process requires certain cognitive, managerial, cultural and emotional skills that allow the overcoming of socio-emotional barriers and guarantee the efficacious implementation of change.

This paper guarantees the identification of the mechanisms to be put in place to overcome the challenges that prevent the success of this professionalization by implementing a new professional culture inspired by family values and standards while respecting the conditions of economic profitability.

The originality of this paper lies in the analysis of the influence of professionalization on the family businesses' in the Moroccan context and the proposal of professionalization tracks to align with market requirements and strengthen the competitiveness of the company. Thus, this paper guarantees the identification of the mechanisms to be put in place to overcome the challenges that prevent the success of this professionalization by implementing a new professional culture inspired by family values and standards while respecting the conditions of economic profitability.