Family businesses and employment relations: Review and suggestions for future research

Abstract

This paper seeks to identify and summarise the big issues at the intersection of family businesses and employment relations business literatures. Family businesses have additional complexities compared with non-family businesses. Thus, the aim of this paper is to throw light on why this intersection is of interest in New Zealand and rationalise the need to research employment relations in the context of family businesses. We first present family businesses as an area for research by outlining the landscape of family businesses in New Zealand, followed by a review of the foundations of family business and employment relations research. We then highlight and discuss three overarching themes: familiness or family dynamics; formalisation/professionalisation; and incorporating employment relations perspectives. Finally, we conclude with future research directions and canvas potential research questions to introduce ways researchers can enhance our understanding of employment relations in family firms.

Giddens’ structuration theory and human resource practice in small firms

“…The role of employees as powerful agents within the small firm, as well as the role of family in shaping HR practices at such firms, is an area that requires further research, as recently highlighted by Woodfield et al, (2021). Further, the duality of agency and structure from the point of view of the employee can be researched from the stance of bounded emotionality (Thomas & Wickramasinghe, 2008).…”