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This paper aims to investigate the relationship of knowledge sharing with unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) and the potential augmenting effects of two factors: employees’ dispositional resistance to change and perceptions of organizational politics.

Quantitative data come from employees in a Mexican manufacturing organization. The hypotheses tests use hierarchical regression analysis.

Knowledge sharing increases the risk that employees engage in UPB. This effect is most salient when employees tend to resist organizational change or believe the organizational climate is highly political.

Organizations should discourage UPB with their ranks, and to do so, they must realize that employees’ likelihood to engage in it may be enhanced by their access to peer knowledge. Employees with such access may feel more confident that they can protect their organization against external scrutiny through such unethical means. This process can be activated by both personal and organizational factors that make UPB appear more desirable.

This study contributes to organizational research by providing a deeper understanding of the risk that employees will engage in UPB, according to the extent of their knowledge sharing. It also explicates when knowledge sharing might have the greatest impact, both for good and for ill.

Este artículo analiza la relación entre compartir conocimiento y el comportamiento pro-organizacional no ético (CPE), así como el potencial efecto amplificador de dos factores: la resistencia al cambio de los empleados y la percepción del clima político de la organización.

Se emplean datos cuantitativos procedentes de los empleados de una organización manufacturera mejicana. Las hipótesis se contrastan utilizando análisis de regresión jerárquico.

Compartir conocimiento aumenta el riesgo de que el empleado desarrolle CPE. Este efecto es mayor cuando los empleados muestran resistencia a los cambios organizativos o creen que el clima organizativo está altamente politizado.

Las organizaciones deben desincentivar el CPE, y para hacerlo deben comprender que la probabilidad de que ocurra aumenta con el acceso al conocimiento de otros compañeros. Los empleados con acceso a este conocimiento pueden percibir que pueden proteger a la organización frente al escrutinio externo por medio de este comportamiento no ético. Este proceso puede activarse tanto por factores personales como organizacionales que hagan la aparición de CPE más deseable.

Este estudio contribuye a la investigación proporcionando una comprensión más profunda del riesgo de que los empleados muestren CPE, en conexión con su grado de conocimiento compartido. También explica cuando compartir conocimiento puede tener un mayor impacto, para bien o para mal.

Este artigo analisa a relação entre compartilhar o conhecimento e comportamento pró-organizacional antiético (CPA), bem como o potencial efeito ampliador de dois fatores: a resistência a mudança de funcionários e a percepção do clima político da organização.

Dados quantitativos são utilizados por funcionários de uma organização de manufatura mexicana. As hipóteses são testadas usando análise de regressão hierárquica.

Resultados – Compartilhar os resultados aumenta o risco de que o funcionário desenvolva o CPA. Esse efeito é maior quando os funcionários mostram resistência às mudanças organizacionais ou acreditam que o clima organizacional é altamente politizado.

As organizações devem desencorajar o CPA, e para isso devem entender que a probabilidade de isso acontecer aumenta com o acesso ao conhecimento de outros colegas. Os funcionários com acesso a esse conhecimento podem perceber que podem proteger a organização do escrutínio externo por meio desse comportamento antiético. Este processo pode ser ativado por fatores pessoais e organizacionais que tornam o surgimento de CPA mais desejável.

Este estudo contribui para a investigação, fornecendo uma compreensão mais profunda do risco que os funcionários exibem CPA, em conexão com o seu grau de conhecimento compartilhado. Também explica quando o compartilhar conhecimento pode ter um impacto maior, para melhor ou para pior.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue on family firms in Iberoamerican countries. The special issue aims at enlarging our understanding of the uniqueness of family firms by providing new evidence from Iberoamerican countries about this widespread organizational type. The paper concludes by highlighting some areas in which the authors believe devoting more energy and resources, with new evidence from other samples, may be favourable to advancing the family business field.

The authors revise relevant literature on the subject and integrate with the content of the papers published in the special issue.

The paper introduces the articles in the special issue, places them in the current academic debate and highlights areas for future research.

Provides a view of research on family firms in Iberoamerica, with indications of relevant potential areas for future research.

The paper introduces four new articles on family firms in Iberoamerican countries and suggests areas for future research.

The purpose of this essay is to highlight the journey of the author in her early career, along with her main challenges and ways she found to overcome them.

This is an inductive account of the main experiences that the author has encountered or has observed.

This essay highlights three academic adaptation phases and steps that indicate how these can be worked to your advantage. It also depicts research opportunities and success factors.

This essay informs potential research opportunities for Ibero‐American scholars alongside key success factors for effective research.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the familiar character of the firm affects its size and performance. Specifically, if the confluence of business and family dimensions affects their chances of survival.

With data from 581 family, small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), the possible negative relationship between family, on the one hand, and size and performance, on the other hand is analyzed. First, the authors made a cluster analysis which distinguishes four groups attending the source of management, family next to external, and the generation, first against the rest. In addition, the authors contrast the existence of non‐linear adjustment through quadratic regressions.

Cluster analysis shows that the firms with family management in first generation are the ones with smaller size and worse performance. Regression analysis contrasts the negative relationship, but exclusively linear in nature. For all companies, regardless of the familiar character, the study confirms a negative relation of quadratic character. This paper clarifies the theories about the life cycle, so that they may be applicable to the family business. The companies must overcome the early stages, where the entrepreneurial impulse is key, to give way to more professionalized structures.

There are two fundamental contributions of this study. The first relates to the use of quadratic functions to model the relationship between family management and size and performance. The second relates to the life cycle of the family business and the role played by the family management; for that end the authors compare companies of family management in first generation with other companies to see to what extent the decision to retain a smaller size to preserve the family character is intentional.

Given the relevance of family businesses and the substantial weight that they carry within the socio‐economic make‐up of any country, this paper consists of the analysis of family firms to explore whether there are any differences between companies which grow at a faster rate than the family and those in which the family grows at a greater rate than the company, in terms of their process of succession and the professionalisation of the people involved and the methods of management. The purpose of this paper is to differentiate between different groups of family businesses through a set of independent variables.

The paper opted for discriminant analysis as an appropriate statistical tool, since it allowed the assigning of an individual to a pre‐defined group (dependent variable) on the basis of a number of characteristics (independent variables). A total of 180 family businesses were analysed.

The results of the study show that significant differences exist between family firms where the family grows more than the company and those where the company grows more than the family. Each group has a different vision. The former is more oriented towards meeting their family needs through the company, whereas the latter is more oriented towards business and professional efficiency.

One of the limitations arises from the fact that the question concerning the rate of growth of the company and the family is a “self‐reported” question that can lead to bias due to the subjective perception of growth. Other limitations arise from the cross‐cutting and exploratory nature of the research.

This paper analyses the differences between family firms where the family grows more than the company and those where the company grows more than the family.

The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into the features that the business structure known as a Family Office (FO) has in Spain by considering it as a useful tool for businessmen to manage and/or diversify their wealth. After reviewing the available literature, the authors put forward a model for the constitution of an FO in terms of a system of interdependent variables which prove useful in making sense of the different forms in which Spanish FOs are organized, governed and, ultimately, evolve.

The authors employed a case study method, selecting a sample of six Spanish FOs, being careful in that they stand for each of the different types of FO that have been distinguished in the literature. This research method is appropriate insofar as the notion of degree of development – even though it is acknowledged that applies in the business practice – has not been properly understood yet to the point that sound conceptual grounds for its study can be established.

We have identified and discerned among three variables which prove useful in understanding the constitution and development processes of an FO, namely: objectives‐scope of activity; structure‐outsource to in‐house ratio; and governance bodies. The relation between these variables and the development of an FO can be made manifest in terms of three propositions of a heuristic nature based on this case study. The authors can explain the relation between these variables and the degree of development of an FO in this way, and with it contribute foundational elements for the development of a theoretic framework that is appropriate for pursuing further research on the factors that can enhance the performance of an FO.

The companies that have been sampled in this case study, even though complying with the significance criteria in a case study scenario, do not comprise the totality of operating Spanish FOs. Thus, in spite of the adequacy of this method, the results obtained cannot be extended as they are to the entire population of Spanish FOs. Nonetheless, they are helpful in suggesting a theoretic framework for a subsequent statistical study that can either reinforce or weaken the theoretic elements suggested.

Given the small‐sized deployment of the FO in Spain – about only ten per cent of those located in Europe – it seems important to make available to family firms what the main motivations and rationale for setting an FO may be, together with the best conditions to proceed doing so, thus expanding their knowledge on what the most appropriate structures and governance bodies are and what the consequences of the decisions taken in those regards may be.

A number of studies, most of them conducted by America‐based researchers, have been conducted in the recent past, with the aim of analyzing the deployment of FOs and the consequences for the entrepreneur family. Nonetheless, given the relatively recent constitution of this kind of structure, the number of studies devoted to it is still comparatively scarce. This is even more significant when it comes to the study of Spanish firms. Hence, this study impinges not only on the improvement of our understanding in terms appropriate for suggesting – and with further research, maybe establishing – a theoretic framework needed for any general study, but also on the optimization of the FO management.

The purpose of this paper is to identify if the open Brazilian companies that have family control manage their accounting results in a negative way, and if this influence is in a positive sense of pushing the results down, that is, worsening their present profits due to future results.

The empirical investigation is developed using as a sample 123 Brazilian companies listed on BM&FBovespa, totaling 1.353 observations for a period of 11 years (2000‐2010). Data analysis is conducted by means of regression with panel data, method of ordinary least squares (OLS), and random effects.

First, it was found that family‐type companies show lower profits compared to profits earned by non‐family companies. Nevertheless, it was observed that family businesses have negative discretionary accruals higher than those submitted by non‐family firms, and that family control has a positive influence on this type of earnings management.

The article provides an extension to earlier work focused on the relationship between family ownership and earnings management results.

The paper provides a more critical look at family property, especially as regards the quality of their accounting information.

The study not only investigates whether family control is positively related to discretionary accruals of Brazilian companies; it also checks the influence of family property on the production of negative accruals – “take a bath”.