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Despite evidence pointing to differences between family and nonfamily firms regarding entrepreneurial orientation (EO), market orientation (MO), and learning orientation (LO), little is known of the relationships between these variables in the family business context. Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV) and a sample of 509 Spanish small and medium enterprises (SMEs), our results suggest that the family business context promotes the LO-EO link, which helps explain why some firms are more entrepreneurially oriented than other firms.

The importance attached to socioemotional wealth is thought to distinguish family firms from non-family firms. Yet, measurement of socioemotional wealth is difficult owing to an absence of psychometrically sound measures. In this paper, we describe the development of the socioemotional wealth importance scale (SEWi)—an instrument allowing direct measurement of the importance of socioemotional wealth to family owners and managers of family firms. We explain the processes used to generate items, pre-test the developed scale and validate it. The final construct is composed of three distinct dimensions: Family Prominence; Family Continuity; and Family Enrichment. Contributions and future research directions are discussed.

This study investigates turnover intentions of different groups of non-family employees in family-owned firms and non-family-owned firms. Raising the question for whom are family-owned firms good employers, we add to the debate on their employer-qualities. Building on job embeddedness theory, we underline the importance of differentiating groups of non-family employees when analyzing their turnover intentions in the family and non-family business context. We focus on the differences among and between blue-collar workers and white-collar workers with and without leadership responsibility and find that turnover intentions of blue-collar workers with leadership responsibility are lower when they are employed in family-owned firms. We observe an opposing trend for white-collar workers with leadership responsibility, who show higher turnover intentions when they are employed in family-owned firms.

An increasing number of families are selling their businesses to private equity (PE) investors. A key question is what the family firm is worth without the family as part of the business. We provide a buyers’ perspective on the valuation of the family firm and argue that prior family involvement provides the PE buyer with a distinct landscape of real options that require consideration. While the buyer gains real options for external (economic) value creation as a result of family departure, family exit after the sale triggers a loss of family dependent real options, which may subsequently reduce economic value for the new owner. Consequently, these two opposing effects need to be considered when accounting for the central role of the family and whether these effects result in an increased or decreased valuation of family firms.

This article highlights the need for network-related research in family business. It provides a concise review of network related constructs and shows potential applications for family business research. It further highlights issues related to data collection and analysis. The article concludes with examples of how network research may extend recent studies and provides an agenda for future research.

This paper develops a framework for future family firm research based on the types of family entrepreneurs, process of opportunity recognition, type of organization, environment and interactions among the aforementioned elements. In addition, future research on both economic and non-economic outcome variables is discussed. We conclude with a discussion intended to help facilitating family firm publications.

Family businesses abound with emotions. How emotions affect strategic decision making in family business remains little understood. The articles featured in this special issue break new grounds in exploring the role and impact of emotions in family business strategy. The purpose of this article is to synthesize the content featured in the special issue and to provide a comprehensive and unified foundation for subsequent studies by offering specific suggestions for developing a future research agenda.