Paradigms and Theory Building in the Domain of Business Families

Abstract

This article argues the bona fides of the study of family business as a standalone discipline. Using a widely accepted evolutionary process for the development of scientific disciplines and an established theory-building methodology, the author introduces a theoretically robust explanation of the domain of business families. Established theories widely acknowledged as having relevance to business families are meshed with the universally accepted three-circle Venn diagram-based paradigm to illustrate both the stage of the discipline in theory building terms and an evolutionary path to further develop a theory of the business family domain.

Empreendedorismo Em Empresas Familiares: A Pesquisa Atual E Os Desafios Futuros

“…Embora seja consenso entre os pesquisadores que os métodos quantitativos contribuem para a explicação das características desse tipo de organização, a partir de processos de amostragem mais sofisticados e análises mais robustas que convergem para a configuração de estudos com maior validade e confiabilidade, existe uma chamada por pesquisas de natureza qualitativa, as quais podem gerar evidências que possibilitam compreender, de forma mais aprofundada, as particularidades de empresas familiares (Winter et al, 1998;Zahra & Sharma, 2004;Moores, 2009;Borges et al, 2012). Diante desse cenário, acreditamos que seria apropriado explorar diferentes perspectivas de triangulação de métodos, permitindo a geração e o desenvolvimento de teorias que possibilitem a compreensão e a explicação da dinâmica empreendedora em empresas familiares.…”

“…Diversos estudos foram elaborados para identificar as características desse campo de estudos, envolvendo aspectos como os padrões da pesquisa e os temas abordados (Sharma, 2004;Debicki, Matherne, Kellermanns, & Chrisman, 2009;Benavides-Velasco, Quintana-Garcia, & Guzmán-Parra, 2013;Smyrnios, Poutziouris, & Goel, 2013), a evolução do campo ao longo do tempo (Bird, Welsch, Astrachan, & Pistrui, 2002) e suas direções futuras (Litz, Pearson, & Litchfield, 2012;Sharma, Chrisman, & Gersick, 2012), os aspectos conceituais e de definição da expressão empresa familiar (Chua, Chrisman, & Sharma, 1999;Westhead & Howorth, 2007;Litz, 2008), a estrutura intelectual do campo (Casillas & Acedo, 2007;Chrisman, Kellermanns, Chan, & Liano, 2010), os aspectos institucionais (Hoy & Sharma, 2006;Stewart & Miner, 2011) e as escolhas metodológicas e epistemológicas (Winter, Fitzgerald, Heck, Haynes, & Danes, 1998;Zahra & Sharma, 2004;Moores, 2009). Pode-se constatar que o campo de estudos se encontra em sua "adolescência", constituindo perspectivas interessantes para a realização de pesquisas (Gedajlovic, Carney, Chrisman, & Kellermanns, 2012).…”

Study of factors influencing knowledge transfer in family firms

“…The founder is considered as the person capable of transmitting the culture that led him to set up the company and continue the business, being the main source of knowledge in the family business (Bracci, 2008). In this way, if the founder is for a long time linked to the company, he will enable the knowledge transmission, causing learning by children, who, from an early age, work in the family firm and listen to the family to talk about it (Moores, 2009;Trevinyo-Rodríguez & Tàpies, 2010). Then, -1221-Intangible Capital -http://dx.doi.org/10.…”

Resources supporting entrepreneurial orientation in multigenerational family firms

“…Chrisman et al 2005b;Habbershon 2006b;Moores and Craig 2005;Nordqvist 2005;Pearson et al 2008;Rutherford et al 2008;Sharma 2008;Tokarczyk et al 2007;Zellweger et al 2008), however as yet we do not understand the conditions that give rise to familiness nor yet fully understand the sources and types of familiness (Chrisman et al 2005b). Familiness remains a somewhat 'fuzzy' concept and much exploration is crucial to understanding this idiosyncratic resource said to be persistent in family firms (Moores 2009). Thus the concept of familiness is being continually refined and developed as a construct within family business research.…”