Introducing the Enterpriseness of Business Families: A Research Agenda

Responding to Digital Transformation by External Corporate Venturing: An Enterprising Family Identity and Communication Patterns Perspective

“…Second, we combine organizational identity and family communication patterns theory. This is in line with the call for more research on the combination of organizational and family theories (Frank et al, 2019; Jaskiewicz et al, 2017). In doing this, we advance our understanding of how the family and the firm interact by uncovering the direct and indirect relationship(s) between communication patterns in the family context, organizational identity, and strategic priorities in the company, most notably for activities outside firm boundaries (ECV) (Astrachan, 2010; Bertrand and Schoar, 2006; Cabrera‐Suárez et al, 2014; Carmon and Pearson, 2013; Jaskiewicz et al, 2017; Nordqvist and Melin, 2010; Uhlaner et al, 2012; Zellweger et al, 2010).…”

“…We introduce family communication patterns theory (family theory) in combination with identity theory (organizational theory) into management research specifically for strategic activities outside firm boundaries (ECV). Until now research on family business and management has primarily focused on business variables instead of family variables (e.g., Astrachan, 2010; Bertrand and Schoar, 2006; Cabrera‐Suárez et al, 2014; Frank et al, 2019; Jaskiewicz et al, 2017; Nordqvist and Melin, 2010; Uhlaner et al, 2012). This approach has led to research that does not adequately incorporate the complexity of the reciprocal influence of the family and the business system (Frank et al, 2019).…”

“…An enterprising family is a ‘family that owns one or more businesses and derives income via its businesses, where the business family’s life is characterized by the influence of the businesses owned and, in many cases, also managed and/or controlled’ (Frank et al, 2019, p. 264). As ownership and management control gives the enterprising family the power it needs to shape the firm’s strategic decision making and vision (Chua et al, 1999), family firms are defined in line with other recent studies based on family ownership and management (e.g., Chrisman and Patel, 2012; Classen et al, 2014; Kraiczy et al, 2015).…”

“…We take these specific steps because we have knowledge indicating that family communication is linked to firm outcomes; organizational identification is related to these as well (Cabrera‐Suárez et al, 2014; Jenkins and Delbridge, 2014; Matherne et al, 2017; Sciascia et al, 2013). Doing this allows us to understand how the defining stakeholder group of the family business, i.e., the family, is related to the business, enhancing our knowledge of how identity concerns influence firm level outcomes (Frank et al, 2019; Zellweger et al, 2010). This is particularly relevant in the context of digital transformation because it scrutinizes essential assumptions about identity perceptions (Ashforth and Mael, 1996; Corley and Gioia, 2004; Elsbach and Kramer, 1996; Kammerlander et al, 2018).…”

Heterogeneity in family firms: contextualising the adoption of family governance mechanisms

“…Given this research gap, the objective of this study is to develop a family firm typology based on distinguishing factors: family involvement in ownership and/or management, the generation in control and company size. Moreover, inspired by the social systems theory (Frank, Suess-Reyes, Fuetsch, & Kessler, 2018;Frank, Kessler, Rush, Suess-Reyes, & Weismeier-Sammer, 2017, Frank, Lueger, Nosé, & Suchy, 2010, we use our typology to understand the association between firm types and the two most relevant and prescribed family governance mechanisms-family councils and family protocols (Berent-Braun, & Uhlaner, 2012;Suess, 2014). We perform a two-step cluster analysis of a sample of 490 Spanish family firms and find four types of firms.…”