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 (2021-2022):
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 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities, Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production
Julia De Groote , WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, julia.degroote@whu.edu
FAMILY BUSINESS RESEARCH SIG STANDING TRACKS
ST04_01 – Strategy, Innovation and Internationalization in Family Firms (SIIFF)
Research on Strategy, Innovation and Internationalization in family firms (FFs) has advanced significantly in recent years. However, the unprecedent nature of the Covid-19 has confront FFs with enormous challenges. Understanding how FFs’ peculiarities such as family managerial discretion, emotional bonds, the social mission and the long-term orientation can influence their strategic behavior represent a unique opportunity for scholars to develop impactful research during an era of macro-disruption. This track, thus, invites contributions from various disciplines that investigate the strategic behavior of FFs, innovation, internationalization and, among others their sustainability behavior. We strongly encourage conceptual papers, literature reviews and/or empirical contributions.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Goal 4: Quality education
Rafaela Gjergji , Università Cattaneo – Liuc, rgjergji@liuc.it
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 Management School, a.discuacruz@lancaster.ac.uk
FAMILY BUSINESS RESEARCH SIG TRACKS
T04_03 Family firms in the digital age
This track considers topical issues in digital transformation of family firms and has the ambition to offer a comprehensive understanding of family firms’ propensity to adopt digital technologies and successfully compete in the digital age. Hot topics include: How do family businesses carry out digital transformation? What is the role of dynamic capabilities in digital technology adoption? What is the role of socio-emotional wealth in shaping the digital readiness of the family business? To what extent does globalization and Corporate Social Responsibility influence the digital transformation of the family business? Does the incorporation of new technologies trigger innovation in family firms?
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
Nada Khachlouf , ICD Business School, Paris, nkhachlouf@groupe-igs.fr
T04_04 Performance, Goals, & Behavior in Family Firms – Focus 2022: Sustainability & Digital Transformation
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 that consists of shared values, a vibrant firmculture (Long, 2011) and abundant social capital (Ahrens, Calabrò, Huybrechts, & Woywode, 2019), which should be further investigated and considered along with its effects on behavior, governance and performance. This year there is a special focus on digitalization and sustainability.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Goal 1: No poverty, Goal 2: Zero hunger, Goal 3: Good health and well-being for people, Goal 4: Quality education, Goal 5: Gender equality, Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation, Goal 7: Affordable and clean energy, 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 14: Life below water, Goal 15: Life on land, Goal 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions, Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals
Michael Woywode, University of Mannheim woywode@ifm.uni-mannheim.de