Advancing knowledge on human resource management in family firms: An introduction and integrative framework

Over the last decades, human resource management has received increasing attention in family business scholarship. However, works on human resource management in the context of family firms remain relatively low as compared to the more general body of studies on human resource management. This article introduces our special issue of the German Journal of Human Resource Management, which discusses facets of how family firms configure human resource management and set human resource practices. We first give a brief overview on the conceptual and empirical research that relates to and informs human resource management within family firms, resulting in a human resource system framework. We then discuss ideas for future human resource management research, namely, the influence of the owning family on human resource orientation, non-family employees as human resource recipients and the role of human resource professionals in delivering human resource management. Furthermore, we call for making psychological foundations part of the human resource management scholarship agenda. There is still work to be done before human resource management can find its ‘place in the sun’ in the family business community. Hence, this special issue contributes to developing family business human resource management scholarship further by offering the human resource system framework, by suggesting directions for future research and by advancing our conceptual and empirical understanding of human resource management in the context of family firms.