The Intersection of Family Firms and Institutional Contexts: A Review and Agenda for Future Research

Abstract

Examination of family firms’ interactions with institutional contexts has been a major research stream within family business scholarship. This study reviews three decades of research at the intersection of family firms and institutional contexts. Our review sample includes 124 articles published in 24 top-level journals across several disciplines. We adopt an institutional theory lens to synthesize this literature and explicate main understandings about how family firm behaviors/outcomes are influenced by or may influence formal and informal institutions in their institutional contexts. Moreover, we discuss major research gaps and unproductive biases in this research area and provide directions for future research.

Family and institutional contexts: an integrated view to advance family business research

“…The examination of family firms' interactions with institutional contexts has been a major research stream within family business scholarship (for a recent review see Soleimanof et al, 2018). The relevance of institutional theory to family business research has been developed by considering some of the broad questions examined by institutional theorists: how formal or informal institutions influence family firms and, on the contrary, how family firms influence formal or informal institutions.…”

“…A theoretical advancement proposition for this chapter is that in the study of family business there are three levels of enquiry: family, business and institutional context. The analysis of the literature allows us to consider that it is possible to place, on the one hand, those who work to explore, in a traditional way, the role of the family in the business and, on the other hand, those who, more recently, are investigating the interrelationship between the business and the institutional context (Peng et al, 2018;Soleimanof et al, 2018). Beyond these, another aspect that needs further investigation is the family as an institution.…”

Family Offices and Institutional Change in Europe: A Comparative Analysis

“…The institution-based perspective has gained significant influence in family business research (Soleimanof et al, 2018). Its rise can be attributed to a growing awareness of family firm heterogeneity (Chua, Chrisman, Steier, & Rau, 2012) and the relevance of context (Wright et al, 2014).…”

“…Scott (2001) distinguishes between three institutional dimensions of context: the regulative dimension relates to rules, the normative dimension to appropriate behavior, and the cognitive dimension to symbolic systems such as frames. Soleimanof et al (2018) categorize the literature on the interactions between family firms and institutional contexts into four areas: first, the influence of formal institutions on family firms (Carney, 2005); second, the influence of informal institutions on family firms (Jaskiewicz, Combs, & Rau, 2015); third, the impact of family firms on formal institutions (Craig & Moores, 2010); and fourth, the influence of family firms on informal institutions (Seaman, 2015).…”

“…Family offices are widely used, most notably in the U.S. and Europe and increasingly in other parts of the world (Decker & Lange, 2013;Geveke, 2018;Glucksberg & Burrows, 2016;Zellweger & Kammerlander, 2015). Like family businesses, they interact with the institutional contexts in which they are embedded (Soleimanof, Rutherford, & Webb 2018).…”