IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/rvmgts/v18y2024i10d10.1007_s11846-023-00703-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Family businesses and strategic change: the role of family ownership

Author

Listed:
  • Nina Schweiger

    (University of Innsbruck)

  • Kurt Matzler

    (University of Innsbruck)

  • Julia Hautz

    (University of Innsbruck)

  • Alfredo Massis

    (Free University of Bozen-Bolzano)

Abstract

In this study, we analyze how the performance-aspiration gap influences strategic change in family firms, providing evidence of the moderating role of family ownership in this relationship. According to socioemotional wealth (SEW) theory, family owners pursue non-financial as well as financial goals, are more risk-averse due to their personal wealth being tied to the firm, and seek to maintain control of the firm to preserve and build their SEW—all characteristics that influence their strategic behavior. We therefore suggest that strategic decisions in family-owned firms are less influenced by purely economic performance, and that such firms tend to persevere more strongly in their strategic direction. We test our hypotheses on a sample of publicly listed European firms between 2007 and 2016. Our findings confirm that the success of firms inhibits strategic change, and that family ownership moderates this relationship by making the overall effect smaller, indicating greater resistance to change despite economic pitfalls.

Suggested Citation

  • Nina Schweiger & Kurt Matzler & Julia Hautz & Alfredo Massis, 2024. "Family businesses and strategic change: the role of family ownership," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 18(10), pages 2981-3005, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:rvmgts:v:18:y:2024:i:10:d:10.1007_s11846-023-00703-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s11846-023-00703-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11846-023-00703-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11846-023-00703-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Roodman, 2009. "How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(1), pages 86-136, March.
    2. Michael Carney, 2005. "Corporate Governance and Competitive Advantage in Family–Controlled Firms," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 29(3), pages 249-265, May.
    3. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez‐De‐Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert Vishny, 2002. "Investor Protection and Corporate Valuation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(3), pages 1147-1170, June.
    4. Markus C. Becker, 2004. "Organizational routines: a review of the literature," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 13(4), pages 643-678, August.
    5. Johannes M. Lehner, 2000. "Shifts of Reference Points for Framing of Strategic Decisions and Changing Risk-Return Associations," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(1), pages 63-76, January.
    6. Rajiv Nag & Donald C. Hambrick & Ming‐Jer Chen, 2007. "What is strategic management, really? Inductive derivation of a consensus definition of the field," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(9), pages 935-955, September.
    7. Isabelle Le Breton-Miller & Danny Miller & Richard H. Lester, 2011. "Stewardship or Agency? A Social Embeddedness Reconciliation of Conduct and Performance in Public Family Businesses," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(3), pages 704-721, June.
    8. Palash Deb & Parthiban David & Jonathan O'Brien, 2017. "When is cash good or bad for firm performance?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(2), pages 436-454, February.
    9. Michael K. Bednar & Steven Boivie & Nicholas R. Prince, 2013. "Burr Under the Saddle: How Media Coverage Influences Strategic Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 910-925, June.
    10. Deephouse, David L. & Wiseman, Robert M., 2000. "Comparing alternative explanations for accounting risk-return relations," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 463-482, August.
    11. Joel A. C. Baum & Kristina B. Dahlin, 2007. "Aspiration Performance and Railroads’ Patterns of Learning from Train Wrecks and Crashes," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(3), pages 368-385, June.
    12. Vas Taras & Esra Memili & Zhonghui Wang & Henrik Harms, 2018. "Family involvement in publicly traded firms and firm performance: a meta-analysis," Management Research Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 41(2), pages 225-251, March.
    13. Theresa K. Lant & Stephen J. Mezias, 1992. "An Organizational Learning Model of Convergence and Reorientation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(1), pages 47-71, February.
    14. Veider, Viktoria & Matzler, Kurt, 2016. "The ability and willingness of family-controlled firms to arrive at organizational ambidexterity," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 105-116.
    15. Bruton, Garry D. & Keels, J. Kay & Scifres, Elton L., 2002. "Corporate restructuring and performance: An agency perspective on the complete buyout cycle," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 55(9), pages 709-724, September.
    16. Timothy J. Quigley & Donald C. Hambrick, 2012. "When the former ceo stays on as board chair: effects on successor discretion, strategic change, and performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(7), pages 834-859, July.
    17. Patricio Duran & Nadine Kammerlander & Marc van Essen & Thomas Zellweger, 2016. "Doing More with Less : Innovation Input and Output in Family Firms," Post-Print hal-02312103, HAL.
    18. Ken G. Smith & Curtis M. Grimm, 1987. "Environmental variation, strategic change and firm performance: A study of railroad deregulation," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(4), pages 363-376, July.
    19. Kyung Min Park, 2007. "Antecedents of Convergence and Divergence in Strategic Positioning: The Effects of Performance and Aspiration on the Direction of Strategic Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(3), pages 386-402, June.
    20. Jana Oehmichen & Sebastian Schrapp & Michael Wolff, 2017. "Who needs experts most? Board industry expertise and strategic change—a contingency perspective," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 645-656, March.
    21. Josip Kotlar & Alfredo De Massis & Hanqing Fang & Federico Frattini, 2014. "Strategic reference points in family firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 597-619, October.
    22. Isabelle Le Breton–Miller & Danny Miller, 2006. "Why Do Some Family Businesses Out–Compete? Governance, Long–Term Orientations, and Sustainable Capability," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 30(6), pages 731-746, November.
    23. Stéphane J. G. Girod & Richard Whittington, 2017. "Reconfiguration, restructuring and firm performance: Dynamic capabilities and environmental dynamism," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(5), pages 1121-1133, May.
    24. Patricio Duran & Nadine Kammerlander & Marc van Essen & Thomas Zellweger, 2016. "Doing More with Less : Innovation Input and Output in Family Firms," Post-Print hal-02276703, HAL.
    25. Zhang, Yue & Ayoko, Oluremi B. & Liang, Qiaozhuan, 2021. "The joint influence of CEO succession types and CEO-TMT faultline on firm’s strategic change," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 137-152.
    26. Harry P. Bowen & Margarethe F. Wiersema, 2005. "Foreign‐based competition and corporate diversification strategy," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(12), pages 1153-1171, December.
    27. Avinash Ghalke & Arunima Haldar & Satish Kumar, 2023. "Family firm ownership and its impact on performance: evidence from an emerging market," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 493-512, February.
    28. Moritz Belling & Ulrich Pidun & Dodo zu Knyphausen-Aufseß, 2021. "Unbundling Strategic Change in Family Firms: the Influence of Familiness on the Strategic Change Process," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 73(3), pages 381-411, December.
    29. Andres, Christian, 2008. "Large shareholders and firm performance--An empirical examination of founding-family ownership," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 431-445, September.
    30. María Belda-Ruiz & Gregorio Sánchez-Marín & J. Samuel Baixauli-Soler, 2022. "Influence of family-centered goals on dividend policy in family firms: A socioemotional wealth approach," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 1503-1526, December.
    31. Theresa S. Cho & Donald C. Hambrick, 2006. "Attention as the Mediator Between Top Management Team Characteristics and Strategic Change: The Case of Airline Deregulation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(4), pages 453-469, August.
    32. Anderson, Ronald C. & Duru, Augustine & Reeb, David M., 2012. "Investment policy in family controlled firms," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 1744-1758.
    33. James J. Chrisman & Jess H. Chua & Franz Kellermanns, 2009. "Priorities, Resource Stocks, and Performance in Family and Nonfamily Firms," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 33(3), pages 739-760, May.
    34. Barontini, Roberto & Bozzi, Stefano, 2018. "Family firm heterogeneity and CEO compensation in Continental Europe," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 1-18.
    35. Barron, John M. & Chulkov, Dmitriy V. & Waddell, Glen R., 2011. "Top management team turnover, CEO succession type, and strategic change," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(8), pages 904-910, August.
    36. Faccio, Mara & Lang, Larry H. P., 2002. "The ultimate ownership of Western European corporations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 365-395, September.
    37. Jerry Goodstein & Kanak Gautam & Warren Boeker, 1994. "The effects of board size and diversity on strategic change," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(3), pages 241-250, March.
    38. Danny Miller & Isabelle Le Breton-Miller & Richard H. Lester, 2013. "Family Firm Governance, Strategic Conformity, and Performance: Institutional vs. Strategic Perspectives," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(1), pages 189-209, February.
    39. Vas Taras & Esra Memili & Zhonghui Wang & Henrik Harms, 2018. "Family involvement in publicly traded firms and firm performance: a meta-analysis," Management Research Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 41(2), pages 225-251, March.
    40. Guilhem Bascle, 2008. "Controlling for endogeneity with instrumental variables in strategic management research," Post-Print hal-00576795, HAL.
    41. Qi Zhu & Songcui Hu & Wei Shen, 2020. "Why do some insider CEOs make more strategic changes than others? The impact of prior board experience on new CEO insiderness," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(10), pages 1933-1951, October.
    42. Pino G. Audia & Henrich R. Greve, 2006. "Less Likely to Fail: Low Performance, Firm Size, and Factory Expansion in the Shipbuilding Industry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(1), pages 83-94, January.
    43. Wouter Broekaert & Petra Andries & Koenraad Debackere, 2016. "Innovation processes in family firms: the relevance of organizational flexibility," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 771-785, October.
    44. Palich, Leslie E. & Carini, Gary R. & Seaman, Samuel L., 2000. "The Impact of Internationalization on the Diversification-Performance Relationship: A Replication and Extension of Prior Research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 43-54, April.
    45. repec:bla:jfinan:v:58:y:2003:i:3:p:1301-1327 is not listed on IDEAS
    46. Rovelli, Paola & Ferasso, Marcos & De Massis, Alfredo & Kraus, Sascha, 2022. "Thirty years of research in family business journals: Status quo and future directions," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 13(3).
    47. Francesco Chirico & Giuseppe Criaco & Massimo Baù & Lucia Naldi & Luis R. Gomez-Mejia & Josip Kotlar, 2020. "To patent or not to patent: That is the question. Intellectual property protection in family firms," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 44(2), pages 339-367, March.
    48. Innan Sasaki & Josip Kotlar & Davide Ravasi & Eero Vaara, 2020. "Dealing with revered past: Historical identity statements and strategic change in Japanese family firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(3), pages 590-623, March.
    49. Hanqing “Chevy” Fang & Esra Memili & James J. Chrisman & Linjia Tang, 2021. "Narrow‐Framing and Risk Preferences in Family and Non‐Family Firms," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(1), pages 201-235, January.
    50. Yan Zhang & Nandini Rajagopalan, 2010. "Once an outsider, always an outsider? CEO origin, strategic change, and firm performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 334-346, March.
    51. Alfredo De Massis & Kimberly A. Eddleston & Paola Rovelli, 2021. "Entrepreneurial by Design: How Organizational Design Affects Family and Non‐family Firms’ Opportunity Exploitation," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(1), pages 27-62, January.
    52. Matthew S. Kraatz & Edward J. Zajac, 2001. "How Organizational Resources Affect Strategic Change and Performance in Turbulent Environments: Theory and Evidence," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(5), pages 632-657, October.
    53. Luis R. Gomez‐Mejia & Marianna Makri & Martin Larraza Kintana, 2010. "Diversification Decisions in Family‐Controlled Firms," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(2), pages 223-252, March.
    54. Jing Zhao & Michael Carney & Shubo Zhang & Limin Zhu, 2020. "How does an intra-family succession effect strategic change and performance in China’s family firms?," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 363-389, June.
    55. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    56. Ronald C. Anderson & David M. Reeb, 2003. "Founding‐Family Ownership and Firm Performance: Evidence from the S&P 500," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(3), pages 1301-1328, June.
    57. Chi-Nien Chung & Xiaowei Luo, 2008. "Institutional Logics or Agency Costs: The Influence of Corporate Governance Models on Business Group Restructuring in Emerging Economies," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 19(5), pages 766-784, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gupta, Parul & Chauhan, Sumedha, 2023. "Dynamics of corporate governance mechanisms - family firms’ performance relationship- a meta-analytic review," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    2. Hussingera, Katrin & Issahd, Wunnam, 2022. "Trade secret protection and R&D investment of family firms," ZEW Discussion Papers 22-039, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Katrin Hussinger & Wunnam Basit Issah, 2022. "Trade Secret Protection and R&D Investment of Family Firms," DEM Discussion Paper Series 22-11, Department of Economics at the University of Luxembourg.
    4. Hanqing “Chevy†Fang & James J. Chrisman & Daniel T. Holt, 2021. "Strategic Persistence in Family Business," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 45(4), pages 931-950, July.
    5. Ivan Miroshnychenko & Alfredo De Massis & Danny Miller & Roberto Barontini, 2021. "Family Business Growth Around the World," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 45(4), pages 682-708, July.
    6. Tommaso Minola & Nadine Kammerlander & Franz W. Kellermanns & Frank Hoy, 2021. "Corporate Entrepreneurship and Family Business: Learning Across Domains," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(1), pages 1-26, January.
    7. Martínez Bobillo, Alfredo & Rodríguez Sanz, Juan Antonio & Tejerina Gaite, Fernando, 2021. "Explanatory and predictive drivers of entrepreneurial orientation and innovation capacity: Evidence from family enterprises," Cuadernos de Gestión, Universidad del País Vasco - Instituto de Economía Aplicada a la Empresa (IEAE).
    8. Jonas Soluk & Ivan Miroshnychenko & Nadine Kammerlander & Alfredo De Massis, 2021. "Family Influence and Digital Business Model Innovation: The Enabling Role of Dynamic Capabilities," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 45(4), pages 867-905, July.
    9. Choi, Seong-jin & Liu, Huilong & Yin, Jun & Qi, Yunfei & Lee, Jeoung Yul, 2021. "The effect of political turnover on firms’ strategic change in the emerging economies: The moderating role of political connections and financial resources," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 255-266.
    10. Michele Pinelli & Francesco Debellis & Alfredo Massis, 2024. "Long-term orientation, family-intensive governance arrangements, and firm performance: an institutional economics perspective," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 63(2), pages 731-754, August.
    11. Montserrat Manzaneque & Alfonso A. Rojo-Ramírez & Julio Diéguez-Soto & Maria J. Martínez-Romero, 2020. "How negative aspiration performance gaps affect innovation efficiency," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 209-233, January.
    12. Kyuho Jin & Joowon Lee & Sung Min Hong, 2021. "The Dark Side of Managing for the Long Run: Examining When Family Firms Create Value," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-20, March.
    13. Fernando Muñoz-Bullón & Maria J. Sanchez-Bueno & Alfredo De Massis, 2020. "Combining Internal and External R&D: The Effects on Innovation Performance in Family and Nonfamily Firms," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 44(5), pages 996-1031, September.
    14. Christopher Hansen & Joern Block & Matthias Neuenkirch, 2020. "Family Firm Performance Over The Business Cycle: A Meta‐Analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 476-511, July.
    15. Szewczyk, Justin & Kurzhals, Christopher & Graf-Vlachy, Lorenz & Kammerlander, Nadine & König, Andreas, 2022. "The family innovator’s dilemma revisited: Examining the association between family influence and incumbents’ adoption of discontinuous technologies," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 13(4).
    16. D’Angelo, Valentino & Amore, Mario Daniele & Minichilli, Alessandro & Chen, Kelly Xing & Solarino, Angelo Maria, 2023. "Family agents," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 14(2).
    17. Debellis, Francesco & De Massis, Alfredo & Messeni Petruzzelli, Antonio & Frattini, Federico & Del Giudice, Manlio, 2021. "Strategic agility and international joint ventures: The willingness-ability paradox of family firms," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(1).
    18. Moritz Belling & Ulrich Pidun & Dodo zu Knyphausen-Aufseß, 2021. "Unbundling Strategic Change in Family Firms: the Influence of Familiness on the Strategic Change Process," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 73(3), pages 381-411, December.
    19. Hanqing “Chevy” Fang & Esra Memili & James J. Chrisman & Linjia Tang, 2021. "Narrow‐Framing and Risk Preferences in Family and Non‐Family Firms," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(1), pages 201-235, January.
    20. Patricio Duran & Marcelo Ortiz, 2020. "When More Is Better: Multifamily Firms and Firm Performance," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 44(4), pages 761-783, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Family firms; Family ownership; Strategic change; Performance feedback theory;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L1 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance
    • M1 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:rvmgts:v:18:y:2024:i:10:d:10.1007_s11846-023-00703-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.