Navigating job satisfaction in family firms during crisis

Occupational health is one of the aspects significantly affected during crisis periods. It is essential to learn about the factors that improve organizational capacity in coping with such shocks. This study investigates how the working environment of a family business influences job satisfaction during crises. Conducting a survey with 516 employees at the peak of the pandemic, the research utilizes structural equation analysis, revealing that family business environments can mitigate burnout, enhance affective commitment, and consequently, boost job satisfaction. The study highlights the need to manage burnout and utilize resources, such as employee commitment, for family firms to sustain job satisfaction amidst disruptions. It deepens the comprehension of family businesses' crisis response, emphasizing the significance of human resource commitment and management. The investigation illuminates the dynamic interplay between the work environment, employee well-being, and organizational resilience, providing valuable insights for both theoretical understanding and practical application.

The Theoretical Lineage and Evolutionary Logic of Research on the Environmental Behavior of Family Firms: A Literature Review

Family firms research is becoming one of the most important and promising areas for theoretical innovation in management practice. Corporate environmental behavior has attracted widespread academic attention, but the research on the environmental behavior of family firms is obviously insufficient, and the relevant research results are still in a fragmented state. In this paper, we review and summarize the existing research on the environmental behavior of family firms from three aspects: the research dimensions, the influencing factors, and the influencing effects, and try to sort out the theoretical lineage and evolutionary logic of the environmental behavior of family firms. From the existing research results, the research on the influencing factors and effects of family firms' environmental behavior is at the stage of strife, and there is a lack of in-depth and systematic research on the mechanisms affecting the environmental behavior of family firms and the changes of their effects. In the future, we can explore how to apply or integrate multiple theories simultaneously for complementary explanations, so as to provide a reference for the government to formulate targeted policies to stimulate and regulate the environmental behaviors of family firms.

Behavioural Phenomena of Family Firm Control Diversity and R&D Investment with Moderating Role CEO Compensation

Purpose

The novel study describes the behXavioural phenomena of family firm types and explores the relationship between the family firm types of control diversity and Research and Development (R&D) investments. Acquiring controlling rights is a psychological phenomenon for family firm owners. The moderating effect of CEO compensations on R&D investments is investigated.

Methodology

We collected data of listed A-share family firms in China from 2011 to 2020 in the China Stock Market and Accounting Research database. We used Tobit regression for data analysis.

Results/Finding

The study concludes that lone-controller family firms (LCFFs) are less willing to invest in R&D and multi-controller family firms (MCFFs) have positive behaviour towards R&D. The moderating role of CEO compensation deviates the willingness and behaviour to invest in R&D.

Conclusion/Originality

To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to outline the paradoxical empirical evidence on family firms and R&D investments by analysing control diversity and how the moderating role of CEO compensation nexus can alter willingness towards R&D. The study is a novel attempt following De Massis et al's framework to test the willingness and ability of LCFFs and MCFFs. Previous studies based on agency theory have tacitly assumed that ability and willingness exist in family-controlled firms. However, this study challenges this implicit assumption.

Analysis of Concept Construction and Scale Development of Employee Zhengchong Behaviour in Family Firms in Jiangsu Province of China

Purpose

Some scholars have explored the connotation and structural elements of employee zhengchong behaviour based on Taiwan’s local enterprises, providing results with reference significance. However, there is a lack of accurate measurement scales. How to treat employee zhengchong behaviour (striving for a favour) and effectively deconstruct it is very important to the sustainable development of family firms.

Methods

Semistructured interviews were conducted with 62 employees of private enterprises, and the structural dimension of employee zhengchong behaviour was explored with the help of grounded theory. The researchers designed two questionnaires, collected 278 and 331 valid questionnaires in the two surveys, compiled the corresponding measurement scale, and tested it.

Results

Employee zhengchong behaviour under differential leadership was a multidimensional structure with rich connotations consisting of four dimensions: showing abilities, collaborating and sharing, excluding outsiders, and ingratiating upwards. The scale includes 16 items.

Conclusion

This study enriches the relevant theories while providing a decision reference for family firm leaders to guide employee zhengchong behaviour to reasonably improve firm performance.

Family-owned multinational enterprises in the post-pandemic global economy

Contractor (J Int Bus Stud, 2022 ) argues that the COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated changes in the world economy that had already started, and that the fundamental rationale for globalization remains. Although we agree with much of Contractor's analysis and conclusions, we argue that in the case of large family-owned multinational enterprises (MNEs), international behavior after the pandemic is likely to be varied, reflecting the strategic persistence and the heterogeneity of the goals, governance, and resources of these firms compared to nonfamily firms. We therefore complement Contractor's article by discussing why most large family MNEs will pursue strategies that are consistent with globalization, but some will pursue strategies that move them in the opposite direction.

Surviving the coronavirus pandemic and beyond: Unlocking family firms’ innovation potential across crises

In this research note, we examine Finnboat, a traditional Finnish family firm, from the interrelated perspectives of crisis behavior and innovation. The firm under study has endured three major crises: the economic recession of the 1990s, the 2008–2009 financial crisis, and the coronavirus pandemic. Our study shows that Finnboat has undertaken only very modest, if any, innovations during stable periods but has conducted a series of radical business-model and technology innovations, triggered by the different crises. This finding implies that during crises, a risk-averse family firm can productively engage into risk-taking and innovative behavior, effectively engaging in a “preference reversal.” We also find evidence of a deliberate accumulation of slack resources during periods of calm, which are mobilized to back up innovation and renewal efforts when a crisis hits. Our findings highlight family firms’ potential to endure crises by adopting a temporal separation logic to the risk-aversion vs. risk-taking paradox, and relatedly, by strategically managing the resource portfolio. Based on the case study, we suggest several research directions, approaches, and methodologies for studying family firm behavior and change during and in-between crises.

Behavior Towards R&D Investment of Family Firms CEOs: The Role of Psychological Attribute

Introduction

This study aims to explore the effects of the behavior of chief executive officers (CEOs) within family firms on investment in research and development (R&D). We also investigate the effect of CEOs' psychological attributes of overconfidence on R&D investment and the moderating effect between the types of CEOs and R&D investment.

Methods

We obtained data on Chinese A-share firms from China Stock Exchange and Accounting Research from 2010 to 2018 for analysis. Then, we used the ordinary least squares model for regression results; moreover, the Tobit regression, GMM and firm fixed effect model are applied to check the robustness of the results.

Results

Family CEOs with actual control rights are more open to R&D investment, whereas those without actual control rights exhibit negative behavior. The study found that non-family CEOs exhibit insignificant results and negative predicted signs toward R&D investment. Moreover, the results show that overconfident CEOs are more inclined to amplify innovation. Furthermore, results on the moderating effects of CEO psychological attribute of overconfidence indicate that the CEO overconfidence mitigates the negative relationship between family CEOs with actual control rights and R&D investment. However, no moderating effect is found between family CEOs without actual control and R&D investment. The CEO psychological attribute behavior is positive between non-family CEOs and R&D investment.

Discussion

This novel study explores the behavioral effect of different types of family firm CEOs on R&D investment. This study will assist corporate board members to make more informed decisions about retaining (or bringing back) family CEOs (with or without actual control rights) or hiring non-family CEOs.

Riding the waves of family firm internationalization: A systematic literature review, integrative framework, and research agenda

Despite the proliferation in research efforts, family firm (FF) internationalization scholarship suffers from fragmentation, theoretical limitations, and empirical indeterminacy, leaving important facets unexplored. This article’s purpose is to unpack how this body of research has evolved over time and interfaces international business (IB) theory. We conduct a systematic literature review of relevant theoretical and empirical studies covering the last 30 years of research and comprising 134 articles. Our study contributes to this corpus of knowledge by identifying and discussing four evolutionary waves of FF internationalization research. We further advance an integrative framework that offers a comprehensive understanding of the state-of-the-art as well as promising avenues for future research at the intersection of IB and FFs.

Personality traits and bricolage as drivers of sustainable social responsibility in family SMEs: A COVID‐19 perspective

Motivated by the social and environmental challenges resulting from the COVID‐19 pandemic, this research examines the influence of the “big five” personality traits; extroversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism on sustainable social responsibility with a mediating role of bricolage. We collected empirical evidence from 245 family‐owned SMEs. The results indicate that the personality traits do not directly influence sustainable social responsibility, although the traits (except extroversion) influence bricolage. Moreover, we found that open, conscious, and agreeable personalities indirectly contribute to sustainable social responsibility, with bricolage as a mediator. Our findings encourage enterprises to focus on those personality traits during crises (especially COVID‐19) that empower people to effectively manage existing resources (e.g., bricolage) and protect their stakeholders. Family‐owned SMEs need to assign resource utilization tasks to family members having personalities of openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism because these kinds of people have high capacities for bricolage.

FAMILY FIRMS, BANK RELATIONSHIPS, AND FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS: A COMPREHENSIVE SCORE CARD

We examine the effect of financial constraints on firm investment and cash flow. We combine data from the Spanish Mercantile Registry and the Bank of Spain Credit Registry to classify firms according to whether they are family-owned, not family-owned, or belong to a family-linked network of firms and according to their number of banking relations (with none, one, or several banks). Our empirical strategy is structural, based on a dynamic model solved numerically to generate the joint distribution of firm capital (size), investment and cash flow, both in cross-sections and in panel data. We consider three alternative financial settings: saving only, borrowing and lending, and moral hazard constrained state-contingent credit. We estimate each setting via maximum likelihood and compare across these financial regimes. Based on the estimated financial regime, we show that family firms, especially those belonging to networks based on ownership, are associated with a more flexible market or contract environment and are less financially constrained than non-family firms. This result survives stratifications of family and non-family firms by bank status, region, industry and time period. Family firms are better able to allocate funds and smooth investment across states of the world and over time, arguably done informally or using the cash flow generated at the level of the network. We also validate our structural approach by demonstrating that it performs well in traditional categories, by stratifying firms by size and age and find that smaller and younger firms are more constrained than larger and older firms.