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Governance and entrepreneurship in family firms: Agency, behavioral agency and resource-based comparisons

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  • Le Breton-Miller, Isabelle
  • Miller, Danny
  • Bares, Franck

Abstract

There remains a good deal of uncertainty as to whether and under which governance conditions family firms, even large, publicly traded ones, are entrepreneurial. We shall argue that agency theory, behavioral agency perspectives, and the resource-based view all posit both positive and negative influences regarding entrepreneurship in family firms, while empirical studies, collectively, are no less ambiguous in their findings. We use each of the above theories to propose various governance distinctions that can reconcile these contradictions and suggest when family firms will be most and least entrepreneurial.

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  • Le Breton-Miller, Isabelle & Miller, Danny & Bares, Franck, 2015. "Governance and entrepreneurship in family firms: Agency, behavioral agency and resource-based comparisons," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 58-62.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:fambus:v:6:y:2015:i:1:p:58-62
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jfbs.2014.10.002
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    Cited by:

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    19. Juan Pineiro-Chousa & Marcos Vizcaíno-González & Samuel Ribeiro-Navarrete, 2019. "Using voting decisions to identify shocks in the financial services industry," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 13(2), pages 419-431, June.
    20. Espeche, José Francisco Tragant & Sacristán-Navarro, María & Zúñiga-Vicente, José Ángel & Crespo, Nuno Fernandes, 2023. "Innovation and internationalisation during times of economic growth, crisis, and recovery prior to Covid-19: A configurational approach comparing Spanish manufacturing family and non-family firms," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 14(1).
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    22. Calabrò, Andrea & Frank, Hermann & Minichilli, Alessandro & Suess-Reyes, Julia, 2021. "Business families in times of crises: The backbone of family firm resilience and continuity," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 12(2).

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