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Through a resource-based theoretical lens, we elucidate conditions under which family business culture (FBC) amplifies the positive effects of high-performance work systems (HPWS) intensity and exacerbates the negative effects of low human capital uniqueness (HCU) on firm performance. By doing so, we answer the call for more research on the conditions under which FBC influences firm outcomes.

The present study sampled 226 small business owners across the USA, who provided their responses to online survey questions. Hypotheses were assessed via path analysis in MPlus 8.8, using maximum likelihood estimation.

FBC, HPWS intensity and HCU were positively associated with firm performance. Further, the HPWS intensity – firm performance and HCU – firm performance links were moderated by FBC. Specifically, increased levels of HPWS intensity were associated with greater firm performance when FBC was high, and firms with low levels of HCU tended to have particularly decreased levels of firm performance when FBC was low.

Consistent with the resource-based view, firms' unique resources and competitive advantage may be tied to the extent to which they have an established FBC. High levels of FBC, which are characterized by shared values, loyalty, proud involvement and care toward the organization, can play a significant role in enhancing organizational performance. Family business leaders should prioritize cultivating an enhanced FBC alongside investments in HPWS and unique human capital.

This study contributes to understanding the theoretical underpinnings of FBC and its relationship with firm performance by examining FBC’s interaction with HPWS intensity and HCU. We highlight FBC as a valuable intangible resource that can enhance or diminish the effectiveness of other strategic resources in family firms, further extending the application of resource-based view theory in family business research.

For this paper, the authors focus on Porter’s competitive advantage. Hybrid strategy refers to how a firm creates value vis-à-vis competitors by simultaneously relying on lower costs and greater differentiation to achieve a competitive advantage. This strategy emphasises both and aims to provide much more monetary value to customers through the combination of reduced cost and a higher rate of differentiation. In addition, this research focuses on family small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), because they have particularities arising from the incorporation of family members both as owners of the SME and in managerial positions. The porpose of this study is to analyse whether the existing differences produced by the role of the family in strategic decision-making and the concentration of family power have a higher impact on performance and innovation than non-family SMEs.

Structural equation modelling was used to analyse Spanish firms with fewer than 250 employees. This study randomly selected SMEs operating in Spain from the Spanish Central Business Directory (2021) database. The overall sample design was based on stratified sampling.

SMEs are facing new challenges, and this has led to the emergence of new competitive strategies. Companies have started to combine differentiation strategies with cost strategies to achieve superior performance and better adapt to these changes. This study confirms a positive relationship between the adoption of hybrid strategies and market performance in SMEs. In addition, hybrid strategy reinforces innovation, which has a mediating role between hybrid strategy and market performance. Finally, the findings indicate that family SMEs achieve a greater impact of hybrid strategy on innovation than non-family SMEs. Moreover, innovation plays a mediating role only in the case of family firms, which enhances the relationship between hybrid strategy and market performance.

For SMEs to survive in turbulent environments, this study proposes the adoption of hybrid strategies instead of pure strategies. The novel model links hybrid strategy (as opposed to “stuck in the middle”), innovation and market performance. The research is valuable for owners and managers of family SMEs because this study finds differences in the relationships studied compared to non-family SMEs.

The purpose of this study is to test the role of familiness-related team forces induced by the CEO of family firms. In particular, we report on the effects of the transformational leadership style of CEOs on their respective top-management team (TMT) and firm performance when viewed through a familiness lens.

Survey measures were taken from a snowballed sample of 72 CEOs of German family firms as well as from 245 members of their TMTs. We tested the aggregated firm-level data with objective performance indicators of the firms they led.

Support was obtained for the three hypothesized team-force mediations and the four-path mediation model. The relationship between CEO’s transformational style and high family-firm performance is found to be serially mediated by TMT cohesion, behavioral integration and efficacy. Together, these three types of collective forces are assumed to be the familiness effect of a family-member CEO with a transformational leadership style.

With our model, we quantitatively tested familiness-type forces vis-à-vis firm performance. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

The research aims to investigate how digital transformation (DT), entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and socioemotional wealth (SEW) impact the financial performance of family firms in uncertain business environments. Drawing from existing literature, we propose that DT and EO drive firm performance. Additionally, we suggest a new role for SEW, which positively moderates this relationship in family firms, especially in terms of risk behavior and innovation for survival.

We used the STEP Consortium’s 2020–2021 database, derived from a global survey that explored how family businesses responded to environmental shocks. Following STEP’s definitions, we proposed three hypotheses and tested two models using structural equation modeling.

The findings show that EO significantly enhances the impact of DT on family firm performance. Family businesses exhibit a notable willingness to take strategic venture risks to protect their SEW. These findings align with conclusions drawn in related literature, supporting all hypothesized relationships proposed.

The study has made an applied contribution by challenging the misconception that family firms are outdated and provides insights into supporting their approach to entrepreneurship, innovation and transgenerational entrepreneurship. Furthermore, it provides business families and consultants with a new view of SEW as a strategic asset.

Our study adds to the literature by showing how entrepreneurial orientation catalyzes the positive impact of digital transformation on firm financial performance. We also highlight the contextual influence on family firm decision-makers' risk propensity, which affects SEW development and firm outcomes. This context dependency of SEW can hinder or enhance performance, offering new research and support avenues for family firms.

The main purpose of the study is to examine the influence of family directors on the firm performance of public listed companies (PLCs) in Malaysia. This study provides empirical evidence on the agency problems between controlling shareholders and minority interests in the concentrated ownership setting.

Samples of the study are 112 PLCs in year 2006. Two measures of firm performance are used: return on assets (ROA) and Tobin’s Q. Managerial ownership refers to the percentage shareholdings of executive directors with direct and indirect holdings. It was further categorized into family ownership and non-family ownership.

In relation to ROA, managerial ownership is found positively significant. The results also show that the positive relationship between managerial ownership is contributed by the managerial-non-family ownership. In relation to Tobin’s Q, the results show a U-shape with turning point at 31.38% for managerial ownership and 28.29% for the managerial-family ownership. The results found significant and positive relationships between managerial ownership and both measures of firm performance which indicates that managerial ownership and family ownership yield greater efficiency.

The study highlights the effects of corporate governance on ROA and Tobin’s Q are somewhat different. It provides some evidence on the need to use appropriate measure of firm performance. The significant relationship supports the argument of Chami (1999), Fama and Jensen (1983), and DeAngelo and DeAngelo (1985) and empirical evidence of Lee (2004) that family ownership enhances monitoring activities.

Differentiating the types of managerial ownership into family and non-family categories enriches our knowledge about who actually contributes to the improved performance.

We investigate the effect of the adoption of formal board structure and board processes on firm performance in Colombian family firms, in a context where firms can choose specific aspects of board structure and processes. We deploy insights from the behavioral governance perspective to develop arguments about how family businesses may choose board elements based on their degree of control over the firm (absolute control or less), and its effect on firm performance.

We use an unbalanced data panel of 404 firm-year observations. The data was obtained from the annual financial and corporate governance reports of 62 Colombian stock-issuing firms for the period 2008–2014 – due to change in regulation, data could not be added beyond 2014. Panel data technique with random effects was used.

The results show that board structure is positively associated with financial performance, however, this relationship is negative in businesses where family has absolute control. We also found that there is a negative association between board processes and performance, but positive association in family-controlled businesses.

Our research contributes to research streams on effects of family control in firm choices and on the interactive effect of governance choices and institutional context and more generally how actors interact (rather than react) with their institutional context.

This study examines how women and men in family firms respond differently when asked about perceptions of financial performance. The study poses three research questions around this topic: Are there differences among female and male responses, do those perceptions change if men and women are leaders of the family business and does the family's socioemotional wealth (SEW) influence such responses.

This study uses a quantitative research design to determine if financial performance perceptions of family firms differ based on the gender of the respondents and their leadership position, and second, if SEW's dimensions influence those perceptions, using data from the Successful Transgenerational Entrepreneurship Practices (STEP) survey in 2015.

The findings indicate that due to the lack of theory regarding gender as a social construct, empirical data collected for family business studies should take under consideration if respondents are women, men, leaders and the family influence in the family business when collecting data from surveys and asking for perceptions of financial performance. Results show that women in family businesses tend to have more positive perceptions of financial performance than men, but if women are leaders, those perceptions not only decrease but become negative. In addition, the family's socioemotional wealth (SEW) exacerbates those tendencies.

This study contributes to the literature by helping to understand the potential limitations of subjective measures of financial performance, as women increasingly become family business leaders. It also contributes to gender studies by demonstrating that there is a lack of gender theoretical perspectives specifically, gender roles, suggesting that differences in self-promotion and self-evaluation between men and women leaders of their family firms. Finally, this study adds to the study of SEW as a multidimensional construct by showing the different effects, or lack of them by each dimension and showing the strong effect of family continuity on the perception of financial performance.

The aim of this paper is to develop and test a behavioral theory of chief executive officer (CEO) succession and its performance consequences in family firms. Building upon performance feedback and slack research, the study hypothesizes that the effect of selecting a non-family outsider CEO on post-succession firm performance is contingent upon pre-succession firm performance aspirations level and the available slack resources.

The hypotheses are tested using a panel of 430 CEO successions in Italian family firms.

The findings show that a non-family outsider CEO is particularly valuable when performance resides far below aspiration levels, and there is a high availability of slack resources.

The study provides novel insights of the benefits and drawbacks of selecting non-family outsider CEOs offering behavioral-based theoretical explanations of performance consequences of CEO successions.

This paper aims to examine how gender diversity and women’s empowerment influence the performance of family entrepreneurships and explores the role of firm characteristics as a moderating factor.

The study used a structured questionnaire as the survey tool to collect data from 91 women managers working in family entrepreneurships, which originated from entrepreneurial initiatives, located in various Lebanese regions. The validity of the construct was assumed using the fitness of extracted index, incremental fit-index, non-normal fit-index, root mean square of residuals and standard root mean square residual. Composite reliability, Cronbach's alpha and value confirmatory factor analysis were used to measure the internal consistency. Data were analyzed using the structural equation modeling method.

This study reveals that gender equality, education level and family support significantly affect women's empowerment while an insignificant association was found between empowerment and earning social status and achieving financial independence. This paper also showed a significant interaction between women’s empowerment and the performance of family entrepreneurships. Additionally, the results showed that women holding managerial positions in family entrepreneurships is positively associated with firm performance. Finally, it was concluded that the location of the family firm moderates the relationship between gender diversity and firm performance.

This research contributes to theory and practice regarding the role of women in family entrepreneurships and sheds light on gender differences influencing family entrepreneurships and women empowerment issues.

This study explores what impact high-performance work practices (HPWP) – from the ability-motivation-opportunity (AMO) framework – might have on financial performance among family firms and examines the mediating role played by family-centered goals (FCGs).

The empirical approach is based on data collected from a sample of 339 Spanish small and medium-sized family enterprises operating in the industry and service sectors. To test the hypotheses, this paper applies a path analysis modeling tool to estimate both indirect and direct effects in mediator models.

The results indicate that the AMO framework has a significant impact on financial performance through the lens of FCGs. In addition, family businesses' keen concern to preserve family wealth influences the effectiveness of HPWPs, making firms more socioemotionally oriented at the expense of economic impact.

This paper underscores the importance of integrating family aspirations into strategic human resource management (HRM) design, emphasizing the significance of socioemotional wealth (SEW) preservation.

The findings offer practical insights for family managers, family owners and human resource (HR) practitioners, suggesting the need to align HR practices with family goals and to strategically balance socioemotional and financial wealth considerations. Family owners in key management positions must skillfully manage HR strategies in order to harmonize family and firm goals.

By examining the mediating effect of FCGs, this paper advances and extends SEW theory in the context of HRM by considering the relationships between HR practices and firm performance as a mixed gamble approach.