“The Journal of High Technology Management Research” announces a call for papers for the special issue of the journal devoted to “Heterogeneity in Management and Governance in family firms”. The editors invite papers for publication in this special issue that helps us advance our understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of family firm’s management and governance.
The study of family businesses has often been approached through the comparison of family and nonfamily firms, investigating different characteristics between them (Sharma and Nordqvist, 2008). However, we can also find great differences in behavior among family businesses, so there is still a need to delve into the factors that influence significant variability in governance systems (Chrisman & Patel, 2012; Gomez-Mejia et al., 2007), as well as family involvement in the company (Pittino et al. 2019; Hambrick, 2007). All these features should be taken into account to better understand the behavior and decision making processes of family firms.
The socioemotional wealth (SEW) approach tries to justify the distinct decision-making process of family firms and to understand the peculiar behavior to this type of organization. The SEW approach has become a meaningful theoretical approach to differentiating between family and non-family business practices, but, when attempting to account for differences between types of family businesses, the application of this approach becomes difficult. Many researchers separate the SEW dimensions into two blocks, and try to show that not all family businesses place the same emphasis on each dimension. Papers, such as Miller and Le Breton-Miller (2014), identify two types of priorities: restricted and extended, positing that restricted SEW focuses on family preferences and could threaten profits and harm the interests of non-family stakeholders. Expanded SEW, on the other hand, has a longer-term focus aimed at satisfying the family, the business and all stakeholders, Thus, the particular circumstances of each family business will lead either to an extended or a restricted SEW perspective. Other authors, such as Bauweraerts et al. (2020) and Bromiley (2009), suggest that family businesses base their decisions on a "mixed gamble"; assessing potential gains against potential losses in terms of both economic and non-economic (SEW) goals (Alessandri et al., 2018).
Therefore, the incorporation and combination of more theories is necessary to justify the heterogeneity behavior of the family firms, taking into account the context and situation of each company, such as the size, the involvement of the family or the generation that leads the business.
This Special Issue calls for new, interdisciplinary research on family firms that extends our understanding of how and why heterogeneity in governance and management can enrich theoretical explanations of family business behavior. We are particularly interested in papers that propose novel theoretical perspectives. We are open to different methodological approaches and draw upon divergent samples of family firms in terms of size corporate form (e.g. private, public), and from a variety of industries, regions, and countries.
Manuscripts may address, but are not limited to, the following topics:
- What theories from family firm’s science offer advanced understanding of heterogeneity in the family firm´s behavior?
- What are the effects of cultural, economic, institutional, and other contextual influences on corporate governance in family firms? And in family involvement?
- How does family involvement affect family and firm outcomes?
- Does gender diversity have an important role in the management of the family business?
- How do family firms prepare current and next generation managers?
- What is the role played by family values and identity in the family firm?
- Could psychological ownership of family members generate differences in family firm’s behavior?
Submissions
Submit your full papers through the journal’s online submission system, https://www.editorialmanager.com/hitech/default.aspx
If you do not have a user account, you will be required to create one. After logging in and starting your submission, choose the corresponding Special Issue “Heterogeneity in Management and Governance in family firms”. All papers that enter the reviewing process will undergo a double-blind review following the journal’s standard criteria and process.