IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/h/spr/sprchp/978-3-319-77676-7_13.html
   My bibliography  Save this book chapter

Defining Family Business: A Closer Look at Definitional Heterogeneity

In: The Palgrave Handbook of Heterogeneity among Family Firms

Author

Listed:
  • Vanessa Diaz-Moriana

    (University of the Balearic Islands (UIB))

  • Teresa Hogan

    (Dublin City University)

  • Eric Clinton

    (Dublin City University)

  • Martina Brophy

    (Dublin City University)

Abstract

Researchers have used a myriad of different definitions in seeking to explain the heterogeneity of family firms and their unique behavior; however, no widely accepted definition exists today. Definitional clarity in any field is essential to provide (1) the basis for the analysis of performance both spatially and temporally and (2) the foundation upon which theories, frameworks, and models are developed. We provide a comprehensive analysis of prior research and identify and classify 82 definitions of family business. We then review and evaluate five key theoretical perspectives in family business to identify how these have shaped and informed the definitions employed in the field and duly explain family firm heterogeneity. Finally, we provide a conceptual diagram to inform the choice of definition in different research settings.

Suggested Citation

  • Vanessa Diaz-Moriana & Teresa Hogan & Eric Clinton & Martina Brophy, 2019. "Defining Family Business: A Closer Look at Definitional Heterogeneity," Springer Books, in: Esra Memili & Clay Dibrell (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Heterogeneity among Family Firms, chapter 13, pages 333-374, Springer.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-319-77676-7_13
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-77676-7_13
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Discua Cruz, Allan & Hamilton, Eleanor & Campopiano, Giovanna & Jack, Sarah L., 2024. "Women’s entrepreneurial stewardship: The contribution of women to family business continuity in rural areas of Honduras," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 15(1).
    2. Pahnke, André & Schlepphorst, Susanne & Schlömer-Laufen, Nadine, 2024. "Family business successions between desire and reality," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 21(C).

    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:sprchp:978-3-319-77676-7_13. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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.