The European Academy of Management with an ad-hoc Strategic Interest Group on “Family Business Research” aims to be the ideal opportunity to assess the conceptual development, empirical research, and future directions of the family business field within a broader community of European scholars of management. We envision this SIG as an international arena to attract contributions of both new scholars of the field and scholars from the established community in family business, that will provide new insights on topics that have received significant attention in the past, as well as we especially encourage scholars to undertake innovative papers and discussions of topics that have not received much attention but are important in the field.
SIG OFFICERS (2020-2021):
Giovanna Campopiano (Lancaster University Management School, UK) g.campopiano@lancaster.ac.uk, SIG Chair
Daniel Pittino (Jönköping University) daniel.pittino@ju.se, SIG Chair-Elect
Julia de Groote (WHU, Germany) julia.degroote@whu.edu, SIG Programme Chair
Elias Hadjielias (Cyprus University of Technology) elias.hadjielias@cut.ac.cy, SIG Programme Chair-Elect & Communications Officer
GT04_00 – Family Business Research General Track
Family-owned firms are one of the foundations of the world’s business community. Their creation, growth and longevity are critical to the success of the global economy. Although family business research is progressing in terms of theory building, it still lacks a systematic adoption of thorough and theoretically-based frameworks. To advance our field, we welcome papers investigating one or several dimensions of family businesses, with multi-theoretical and multi-level approach, and cross-cultural research. We are particularly interested in advancing “Family Business” as an autonomous Research Field with contributions that offer rigor to the Academia and relevance to owner-managers, practitioners and local communities.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Goal 5: Gender equality, Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth, Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production
Giovanna Campopiano , Lancaster University, g.campopiano@lancaster.ac.uk
GT04_00 - Family Business Research General Track
FAMILY BUSINESS RESEARCH SIG STANDING TRACKS
ST04_01 – Strategy, Innovation and Internationalization in Family Firms (SIIFF)
Family firms (FFs) are regarded as the backbone of our economy. Family involvement in the ownership and management of the business contributes to create a unique and heterogeneous context. Hence this track invites contributions from various disciplines which investigate FFs’ uniqueness both in terms of governance structure, goals and resources, and its impact on strategic decisions (e.g. M&A, alliances, divestments, green strategies), innovation behavior (e.g. open innovation, technology adoption, R&D management) and internationalization. We strongly encourage conceptual papers, literature reviews and/or empirical contributions (qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods).
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Goal 4: Quality education
Rafaela Gjergji , Università Cattaneo – Liuc, rgjergji@liuc.it
ST04_01 - Strategy, Innovation and Internationalization in Family Firms
ST04_02 – Family Business in Emerging, Developing, and Transitional Economies
The “Family business in emerging, developing and transition economies” track aims to contribute to conversations in the family business research field in three ways. First, by encouraging researchers to borrow and replicate research strategies, we expect to foster the generalization of results and test mainstream theories and approaches across contexts. Second, by encouraging researchers to borrow and extend research strategies, we call for scholars to incorporate the specificities of the environment-family relationship to contextualize the family business phenomenon. Finally, by developing new research designs we can better understand the effect of context on family business and business families.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Goal 1: No poverty, Goal 3: Good health and well-being for people, Goal 5: Gender equality, Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth, Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production, Goal 13: Climate action, Goal 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions, Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals
Allan Discua Cruz , Lancaster University, a.discuacruz@lancaster.ac.uk
FAMILY BUSINESS RESEARCH SIG TRACKS
T04_03 – Critical events and resilience in family businesses
Critical events are particularly important for family businesses that, differently from other organizations, are simultaneously subject to both business-related and family-related challenges. For example, whether Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically impacted every business, family businesses included. However, family businesses have been affected twofold: at a business level and at a family level.
With the intention to open up the debate on the resilience of family firms, by considering the Covid-19 as one of the critical events that boosted and tested the capacity for resilience of family businesses, we invite to submit conceptual as well as qualitative and quantitative empirical contributions.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Goal 3: Good health and well-being for people, Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth, Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals
Elisa Conz , University of Pavia, elisa.conz@unipv.it
T04_03 - Critical events and resilience in family businesses
T04_04 – Governance, Goals and Behaviour in Family Firms
This track is dedicated to empirical methods (quantitative and qualitative) and theory advancement at the intersection of GOVERNANCE, GOALS, and BEHAVIOR IN FAMILY FIRMS. Family firms operate in a polar tension between continuity, stability, reliability, sustainability and management for the long-run at one pole; and adaption to changing environments, strategic renewal and succession at the other (Miller & LeBreton-Miller; 2005). Their focus on sustainability, both financially and non-financially, often leads to the emergence of a fragile social structure around them – consisting of a web of strong and weak relational ties.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Goal 1: No poverty, Goal 3: Good health and well-being for people, Goal 4: Quality education, Goal 5: Gender equality, Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth, Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, Goal 10: Reducing inequalities, Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities, Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production, Goal 13: Climate action, Goal 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions, Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals
Jan-Philipp Ahrens , University of Mannheim, jahrens@staff.mail.uni-mannheim.de