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This chapter takes a socioemotional wealth (SEW) perspective to explain the adoption of human resource (HR) practices in family-controlled firms. Previous studies on human resource management (HRM) in family firms have focused only on a small range of HR practices and have rarely utilized strong conceptual frameworks. As a result, these studies have overlooked important factors that contribute to the distinctiveness of HRM in these organizations. Based on ample evidence that shows family businesses' preference for non-economically motivated objectives collectively labeled as SEW, we propose that the presence of SEW influences HR practices in family firms.

Consequently, we reexamine existing empirical evidence of the determinants of HRM in family-controlled firms under the SEW approach. We also reinterpret existing theoretical models of family-controlled firms and their implications for HRM under the SEW umbrella. Our final goal is to establish an integrated framework through a set of sound propositions on HRM in family businesses. By integrating the literature, we aim to fill theoretical gaps in our understanding of the determinants of HR practices in the family business context and direct future research in this area.

Despite being the dominant form of business globally, it is widely recognised that research focused on the governance of small family-owned entities has been largely overlooked. The benefits of sound governance practices are deemed salutary for small business prosperity; however, these enterprises are confronted with significant governance issues and unique concerns of their own. One particular issue concerns the compliance costs of governance for family-owned businesses and the extent to which the regulatory environment actually encourages an evolvement towards an improvement in governance practices in smaller businesses. Reconciling decision speed, flexibility and entrepreneurial innovation to necessary enhanced governance practices and procedures remains problematic. It is argued that a proper balance between the costs and benefits of proper governance codes and structures for smaller firms can only be achieved with a strong emphasis on flexibility to take account of myriad types of governance requirements of firms. This would entail the development of an evolutionary view of corporate governance implementation, one which mirrors the process of delegation of the entrepreneurial function to company boards and management. This would lend support to the view that there is no universal ‘best way’ for all firms at all stages of the business life cycle. In this respect, the application of the principles of subsidiarity and incentives plays an important role.

The overarching aim of this chapter is to explore the existing status of mentoring in accounting firms in India and Malaysia, to understand whether or not mentoring is gendered in these country contexts, and to investigate the impact of the size of the firm and country context on mentoring. The mentoring framework is used as a theoretical lens to understand the orientation of principals and partners towards the existing and future mentoring support and activities of micro-sized, small-sized, medium-sized, and family-owned accounting firms operating in both India and Malaysia. Data obtained from 40 in-depth interviews (n = 20 in India and n = 20 in Malaysia) are analyzed using qualitative data analysis software NVivo12. The findings obtained from the study indicate that mentoring support exists informally in accounting firms, mentoring support offered and mentoring activities undertaken are gendered, and the nature, extent and type of mentoring offered in accounting firms varies according to the size of the firm in both countries. The chapter presents important practical, theoretical and methodological implications of the study for avoiding gendered mentoring practices in accounting firms.

To determine what role overconfidence plays in the forced removal of CEOs internationally.

The study makes use of the Fortune Global 500 list.

We find that overconfident CEOs face significantly greater hazards of forced turnovers than their non-overconfident peers. Regardless of important differences in culture, law, and corporate governance across countries, overconfidence has a separate and distinct effect on CEO turnover. Overconfident CEOs appear to be at greater risk of dismissal regardless of where in the world they are located. We also discover that overconfident CEOs are disproportionately succeeded by other overconfident CEOs, regardless of whether they are forcibly removed or voluntarily leave office. Finally, we determine that the dismissal of overconfident CEOs is associated with improved market performance, but only limited enhancement in accounting returns.

This study is unique with its examination of overconfidence among global CEOs rather than being limited to U.S. chief executives. It also provides insight into how overconfidence is related to national cultures, legal systems and corporate governance mechanisms.

Human resource management is an understudied but burgeoning topic in the family business scholarly domain. This chapter provides a summary review of the existing literature on human resource management in family businesses and offers pathways for future research. The authors cluster the extant research into topic areas of compensation, recruitment and selection, training, employee performance, and turnover, and offer future research directions for each. In identifying gaps and tension in the literature, the chapter also highlights several broader theoretical pathways for future research. These opportunities include further inquiry into the outcomes of bifurcation bias, or the disparate treatment between family and non-family employees, the nuanced ways family firms recruit and select new employees, the role of high-performance work systems in family firms, the ways image considerations influence human resource practices in family firms, and the application of social network perspectives.

In this paper, we draw attention to the influence of the institutional logic of family upon a broad range of organizations, and argue that their significance has not been fully realized within the realm of institutional theory and research. Drawing on extant literature, publicly available documents, and interview data, we highlight the prominence of the family logic in the Italian legal sector, where there is a dearth of family firms and the existence of a competing professional logic that interacts with the familial logic. Our research suggests that, even in a setting where logics of capitalism and profession dominate, the organizational form and practices of Italian law firms are significantly influenced by the family logic: firms remain small, resistant to mergers and forms of internationalization, and have successfully resisted the encroachment of invading foreign legal practices. We discuss the significance of the family logic and its manifestations in organizations, and map out future research directions about how multiple logics interact and reinforce each other in national settings.

In this paper, we draw attention to the influence of the institutional logic of family upon a broad range of organizations, and argue that their significance has not been fully realized within the realm of institutional theory and research. Drawing on extant literature, publicly available documents, and interview data, we highlight the prominence of the family logic in the Italian legal sector, where there is a dearth of family firms and the existence of a competing professional logic that interacts with the familial logic. Our research suggests that, even in a setting where logics of capitalism and profession dominate, the organizational form and practices of Italian law firms are significantly influenced by the family logic: firms remain small, resistant to mergers and forms of internationalization, and have successfully resisted the encroachment of invading foreign legal practices. We discuss the significance of the family logic and its manifestations in organizations, and map out future research directions about how multiple logics interact and reinforce each other in national settings.

Adopting a quantitative explorative research design, we employed a sample of 770 foreign market entries in the period 2005–2015 to investigate whether particular entry mode strategies such as joint venture or wholly owned subsidiary are differently chosen by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large firms. Various tests have been carried out revealing that SMEs show some different features compared to large firms when selecting their entry mode. SMEs react differently to economic downturns, and the diversification level is a crucial determinant for their entry choices while it is not for large firms. Moreover, we found for a set of other factors affecting the entry choice of large firms, not being significant for SMEs. Implications of these findings are discussed.

In many countries (Nigeria inclusive), major components of job creation and economic growth, are driven by small and medium-sized businesses that are mostly family-owned. However, over 50% of such businesses fail after intrafamily leadership transition. This chapter seeks to understand and explain the strategies that owners of medium-sized family-owned businesses explore in ensuring the sustainability of their business after a leadership transition from the founder. The focus is on three business leaders who sustained their family-owned businesses after a leadership transition from their founders. The conceptual framework is based on the transformational leadership theory. Data collection was from artefacts, company documents and semi-structured, face-to-face interviews. Analysis of data was supported by follow-up questions and member-checking to enhance the trustworthiness and credibility of the interpretations. Four themes that emerged were the founder's desire and support for transition, the preparation of successors or level of preparedness, trust and credibility of successors, and clarity of vision of both the founders and successors. Findings from this study may contribute to positive social change by providing leaders of African family-owned businesses with strategies for managing leadership transitions and ensuring the survival of the business after these transitions. Sustainability of family businesses might lead to job retention and creation, as well as enhance wellbeing and incomes of communities, family members and the African economy.

Notwithstanding the relevance of managerial control systems (MCS) in any organization, as well the distinctive role they can play in family business, due to its specific features, the literature rarely dealt with the role and characteristics of MCS in family business. Taking into account previous contributions from different disciplines (organization, management accounting, and family business), the current work aims to better understand the state of the art about research in the field of MCS in family business in order to identify main research gaps and propose future research directions.

Forty-five articles have been analyzed, which were issued in 29 sources. Research findings show that the literature on MCS in family business is limited and not very conclusive. Some authors focused on the type of controls, other authors outlined the role of MCS in managerialization and the relation with professionalization. A few studies focused on some specific mechanisms, especially strategic planning and compensation. Some contributes dealt with MCS’ determinants and impacts. Differences between family and non-family firms were proposed. However, a clear and organized picture of the features of MCS in family firms, their determinants, and impacts has not yet been developed. Particularly, the impact of the distinctive features of family business on MCS represents an underdeveloped research field along with how MCS can be differently developed and used in different kinds of family firms. In the light of findings of the literature review, we propose a reference research framework on MCS in family business.