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Attracting and retaining a skilled labor force represents an important source for competitive advantage for organizations. In the European context, one of the greatest challenges that small- and medium-sized family firms face is attracting high quality non-family applicants. Researchers argue that one of the reasons for this difficulty is tied to the perception that non-family applicants have about family firms as a place to work. The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceptions that applicants have about family firms and their willingness to work in family firms in the German context.

Using principles from signaling theory, an experiment was conducted to explore the effects that information about family ownership and organizational age had on the perceptions about a firm (i.e. job security, advancement opportunities, prestige, task diversity, and compensation), and applicant’s attractiveness to it.

Based on the responses from 125 individuals in Germany, the authors found that explicitly communicating information about family ownership did not influence applicant perceptions about the firm or attractiveness to it. Although, information about organizational age affected perceptions of compensation, it did not affect attractiveness to the firm.

This study presents one of the first papers that focuses on the perceptions that non-family applicants have about family firms as a place to work in the European context. Thus, it provides a baseline for comparison to applicant perceptions in other European countries.

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.

Although prior research has indicated that ownership characteristics of a firm can influence how organizations are perceived, there is a gap in our understanding of the general associations that individuals have with the term “family firm.” Some argue that promoting a firm as family-owned can result in positive evaluations by stakeholders; others argue that it can result in negative perceptions about a firm. However, very few empirical projects have directly explored the associations that external stakeholders have with the term “family firm.” The purpose of this paper is to explore the associations that individuals in Switzerland have with the term “family firm.”

A two-stage study is conducted in this paper. In Stage 1 (n=138), the authors generated the list of associations that individuals had with the term “family firm.” The authors then categorized these associations into seven categories. In Stage 2 (n=321), the authors explored whether these associations were unique to family firms by asking participants in the “family firm” or the “publicly owned company” condition to assess which descriptors better represented the condition the characteristics of organizations in their conditions.

The findings indicate that there are seven general descriptor categories associated with the term “family firm.” These are: tradition and continuity, small and medium companies, trustworthiness, strong culture, corporate citizenship, professionalism, and career opportunities. The findings also indicate that individuals have different associations with the terms “family firm” and “publicly owned company.” While the term “family firm” is primarily associated with traditional, small, and trustworthy companies, the term “publicly owned company” is often associated with companies that are profit-oriented, large, and thought to offer superior career opportunities. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

This study continues to build our understanding of branding in family firms by helping us connect the term “family firm” with the direct associations in the mind of the audience. This is important because it can help practitioners and researchers better understand under which conditions promoting family firms will have a positive influence on consumers.

Evidence suggests that some stakeholders perceive family firms as more trustworthy, responsible, and customer-oriented than public companies. To capitalize on these positive perceptions, owning families can use references about their family nature in their organizational branding and marketing efforts. However, not all family firms actively communicate their family business brand. With this in mind, the purpose of this paper is to investigate why family firms decide to promote their “family business brand” in their communication efforts toward different stakeholders.

Data for this study were collected using an in-depth interview approach from 11 Swiss and German family business owners. Interviews were transcribed and coded to identify different themes that help explain the different motives and constraints that drive their decisions to promote the “family business brand.”

The analyses indicate that promoting family associations in branding efforts is driven by both identity-related (i.e. pride, identification) and outcome-related (e.g. reputational advantages) motives. However, there are several constraints that may negatively affect the promotion of the family business brand in corporate communication efforts.

This paper is one of the first to explore why family businesses decide to communicate their “family business brand.” Building on the findings, the authors present a conceptual framework identifying the antecedents and possible consequences of promoting a family firm brand. This framework can help researchers and practitioners better understand how the family business nature of the brand can influence decisions about the company’s branding and marketing practices.

Although succession planning can be important for the continuity of family firms, not all family business have the opportunity to engage in this planning. Sometimes, these organizations face crisis events that may trigger an intra-family succession. However, what happens when there is an unplanned succession? Are family businesses doomed to fail? This project aims to explore unplanned successions that are triggered by crisis and the impact that this can have on post-succession financial performance. The authors also examine the moderating role of successor characteristics (i.e. education and previous work experience) on this relationship.

The ideas were tested using data from 151 publicly listed family firms in China.

The findings indicate that having a crisis driven intra-family succession does not always result in lower post-succession performance. It is only successions that are triggered by market crises that negatively impact financial performance after the unplanned succession. In these instances, the education and previous experience of the successor moderate the negative relationship between market crisis succession and financial performance such that having more experience and a college education diminishes these negative effects on performance.

The results point to the importance of the preparation of the next generation in helping family firms navigate unplanned successions. The findings indicate that education and previous work experience of the successor can help a family firm manage a crisis.

This study continues to build the understanding about unplanned successions and the important role that successor preparation can have for the success of the family firm.

Justice perceptions describe an individual's evaluation of whether decisions or actions are fair or unfair. These perceptions are important because they affect individual attitudes and behaviors in different situations. Family firms develop and implement governance policies and structures (i.e., governance systems) to diminish the problems that can arise from the overlap between the business, the family, and the ownership systems of a firm. Governance systems help family firms have a clear structure of accountability and a clear understanding of the rights and responsibilities that family and non-family members have toward the family enterprise. Research on governance to date has focused on the practices and policies that exist and their effects on the family firm. However, in the governance context, individual perceptions are important because they are likely to affect the attitudes that family and other members have toward the family enterprise and the likelihood that they will follow the different policies when they are implemented. This chapter takes a receiver perspective to explain how individuals create justice perceptions based on governance mechanisms and the effects of these perceptions. The goal is to understand how we can use this information when developing governance practices in family firms.

The purpose of this paper is to summarize what is known about corporate governance in family firms from Ibero-American countries based on published research.

The authors conducted a literature search to identify the articles that have been published about the corporate governance of family firms in Latin America, Spain, and Portugal between 1980 and 2014. The authors found 38 articles that provide the sample for this review.

The results indicate that research on governance in Ibero-American family firms has focussed on understanding structures and processes related to the business and ownership systems. However, generalization of results across the region is difficult because of the lack of systematic approach of studies and the focus on a small number of countries.

There are at least two limitations of this work: the small sample of projects identified for the review and the lack of systematic approach to research. Both of these may be due to the importance given to publishing the university context in this part of the world. As the culture of knowledge changes, the authors expect that research in this area will grow.

Although previous research indicates that cultural characteristics affect governance system choices and understanding of family firms, not many studies explore the importance of culture in governance choices of family firms. This paper provides a baseline of the understanding of governance in Ibero-American family firms, and identifies important area for future research.

La meta de este proyecto era resumir lo que sabemos acerca del gobierno corporativo en empresas familiares en países iberoamericanos.

Se realizó una búsqueda en la literatura para identificar artículos que se hubiesen publicado en el área de gobierno corporativo sobre empresas familiares en Latinoamérica, Portugal y España entre 1980 y el 2014. Se encontraron 38 artículos que representan la muestra en este resumen de la literatura.

Los resultados de esta investigación sugieren que la investigación sobre gobierno corporativo en empresas familiares iberoamericanas se ha centrado en entender las estructuras y los procesos relacionados a los sistemas de la empresa y la propiedad. Sin embargo, la generalización de estos resultados a través de toda la región es difícil porque falta de investigaciones sistemáticas sobre temas similares y por la concentración de estudios en países específicos.

Este trabajo tiene por lo menos dos limitaciones: el tamaño de la muestra y la falta de estudios sistemáticos en investigaciones de esta área. Estas dos limitaciones pueden están relacionadas con la importancia que se le da a la publicación de investigaciones en esta región del mundo. A medida que la cultura del conocimiento en esta región cambie, se notara la proliferación de más estudios en el área de gobierno corporativo en empresas familiares iberoamericanas.

A pesar que investigaciones previas indican que las características culturales afectan las decisiones sobre sistemas de gobierno corporativo y como entendemos las empresas familiares, no hay mucha investigación acerca de la importancia de la cultura en las decisiones de gobierno en empresas familiares. Este trabajo representa una base para entender el gobierno corporativo en empresas familiares iberoamericanas y para identificar áreas de énfasis en investigaciones futuras.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that influence perceptions of work-life balance among owners of copreneurial firms. Research on work-life balance in the context of family firms has focussed on the effects that perceptions of balance can have on the emotional well-being of business owners and performance of the firm. Less attention has been given to understanding the factors affecting an owner's perceptions of work-life balance. This paper not only explores the antecedents of perceptions of work-life balance but does so with copreneurs, or couples who own and manage a firm.

Data for this study were collected using surveys. In all, 210 copreneurs with businesses in nearly 20 industries answered questions about their perceptions of work-life balance, work-life conflict (WLC), life-work conflict, communication practices, characteristics of their jobs, and spousal support.

WLC was negatively related to perceptions of work-life balance. Job involvement, flexibility at work, and permeability of communication were significantly related to perceptions of WLC. Interestingly spousal support did not affect individual perceptions of life-work balance, but had a direct influence on perceptions of work-life balance.

The sample was not randomly selected, and participants were surveyed at only one point in time. Notwithstanding these limitations, the findings have implications for advancing research and theory in the areas of family business, work-life issues, and communication. While the paper focus on copreneurial firms, the findings may have implications for family firms and co-founded ventures.

The potential benefits of copreneurs’ increased awareness of these findings (from readings or through coaching) are important given prior research demonstrating that family to work conflict and work to family conflict affect the emotional well-being of family business owners, their satisfaction with work, and firm performance.

This project offers two important contributions to research in family firms. First, it focusses on copreneurial firms as a unique type of family firm which has the potential to shed light on the differences between family firms. Second, results from this study provide a picture of the predictors of work-life balance for couples who are firm owners.