Sofia Brunelli, Luigi Vena, Salvatore Sciascia and Lucia Naldi
This paper explores the drivers and inhibitors of the transition of entrepreneurial family firms from small to large firms. We adopt two contrasting theoretical perspectives, i.e…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper explores the drivers and inhibitors of the transition of entrepreneurial family firms from small to large firms. We adopt two contrasting theoretical perspectives, i.e. agency and stewardship, to explore the effects of family power on size transition.
Design/methodology/approach
We adopted an original research design that leverages a unique longitudinal database built starting from the list of the 500 best Italian manufacturing family firms published by the AUB Monitor in 2018. Specifically, we tested our hypotheses using a comprehensive set of financial and governance data from 89 Italian manufacturing family firms covering a 10-year period. To test our hypotheses, we conducted a survival analysis using a Cox regression.
Findings
We find an inverted U-shaped relationship between family involvement in ownership and size transition: size transition is more likely to happen at intermediate levels of family involvement in ownership. Additionally, our analysis shows that family involvement in the board of directors negatively impacts size transition, while the presence of a family CEO has a positive influence.
Originality/value
To the best of our knowledge, this study represents the first exploration of the phenomenon of size transition within entrepreneurial family firms. We believe it was worthwhile for two reasons. First, small size is frequently regarded as a weakness when competing in international markets, investing in R&D, or rewarding shareholders. Second, since small family firms are the major contributors to the world economy, understanding the factors that facilitate their transition to large firms can have a significant impact on overall economic development and prosperity.
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Meba Tadesse Delle, Ethiopia Legesse Segaro and Lucia Naldi
This study aims to investigate the individual factors that directly and indirectly favor (or hinder) employees’ attitudes toward women in management. Two sides of psychological…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the individual factors that directly and indirectly favor (or hinder) employees’ attitudes toward women in management. Two sides of psychological ownership (PO), promotion-focused and prevention-focused PO, are studied as having a direct effect on employees’ attitudes toward women in management. Past and future temporal focuses are examined as possible antecedents to the sides of PO, and as indirectly affecting employees’ attitudes toward women in management.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey questionnaires were collected from 230 MBA and related program students who were currently working and enrolled in one of six different universities in Ethiopia. Confirmatory factor analysis was applied to validate all measurement scales, and structural equation modeling was used to test the study hypotheses using Mplus software.
Findings
Employees with promotion-focused PO and employees with prevention-focused PO had a favorable and unfavorable attitude, respectively, toward women in management. In addition, a future temporal focus had a significant positive effect on promotion-focused PO, and a past temporal focus had a significant positive effect on prevention-focused PO. Overall, this mediation model showed that promotion-focused PO partially mediates the relationship between future temporal focus and attitudes toward equal opportunity for women managers, whereas prevention-focused PO fully mediates the negative relationship between past temporal focus and attitudes toward women in management.
Practical implications
This study provides new insight for organizations by showing how employees’ temporal focus explains their side of PO and how that affects their reaction toward women in management.
Originality/value
A new mechanism for revealing gender inequality in organizations is introduced. Moreover, the relationship between temporal focus and PO is discovered. This study is novel in providing an understanding of the antecedent to and effect of prevention-focused PO, which are largely overlooked in extant research.
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Magdalena Markowska, Helene Ahl and Lucia Naldi
In this chapter, the authors argue that entrepreneurship education (EE) as currently conceived, does little to eradicate gender inequality – rather, its focus on the individual…
Abstract
In this chapter, the authors argue that entrepreneurship education (EE) as currently conceived, does little to eradicate gender inequality – rather, its focus on the individual and its neglect of structural impediments and measures tend to reinforce this inequality. The authors discuss why this happens and suggest ways forward. The authors believe the most positive action would be to employ legislation and public policy to change gendered structures and practices which would lead to changes in gendered norms. However, the relationship between norms and structures is mutual. Structural change can only be achieved if existing norms are questioned and this should be the first step toward changing discriminatory structures. The authors argue that in this context EE must include norm critical education. The authors provide some practical examples related to the context of EE.
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Lars Torsten Eriksson, Jens Hultman and Lucia Naldi
The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore small business e‐commerce development and usage of the emerging ICT‐infrastructure for e‐commerce in Sweden. For more than a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore small business e‐commerce development and usage of the emerging ICT‐infrastructure for e‐commerce in Sweden. For more than a decade firms in countries with appropriate infrastructures in place have generally been able to exploit internet technologies for business purposes.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents the results from a telephone survey on Swedish small businesses. The 160 firms surveyed were independent manufacturing firms in Sweden with a number of employees ranging from ten to 50 and a turnover not surpassing €10 million. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS.
Findings
The paper presents empirical data on e‐commerce development among small businesses in Sweden. The study shows that a significant share of the studied firms have adopted internet technologies, but also that more than 70 per cent of the small businesses in the study have more than five years of experience of e‐commerce. The study finds that small businesses in Sweden show remarkably high levels of e‐commerce adoption. The study shows strong penetration of web site and e‐mail use among small businesses in Sweden, but also that advanced applications are still not broadly applied.
Originality/value
Statistics presented by the OECD have recurrently shown that the Scandinavian countries are in the lead as regards building an ICT infrastructure. Sweden's leading position in ICT has been confirmed by several studies. Because of scarce resources and lack of knowledge, small businesses are generally known to be lagging in terms of ICT use. This study empirically explores small business e‐commerce development in Sweden and contributes to the stream of research aiming at benchmarking e‐commerce development.
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Olli Kuivalainen, Sanna Sundqvist, Sami Saarenketo and Rod McNaughton
The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the conceptual frameworks and concepts with which the research on internationalization patterns of small and medium‐sized…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the conceptual frameworks and concepts with which the research on internationalization patterns of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) should be conducted.
Design/methodology/approach
A comprehensive overview of concepts and a conceptual framework to study internationalization patterns of SMEs is offered.
Findings
The complexities of existing definitions and methodologies for researching internationalization patterns are highlighted, and a synthesis of the issues is provided. An integrative model of internationalization pathways, and their antecedents and outcomes is presented.
Research limitations/implications
It is recommended that future research focuses especially on the time dimension of internationalization patterns. Future research can contribute to the literature by adopting a longitudinal approach with larger samples and more detailed cases to capture the dynamics of internationalization.
Practical implications
Practitioners might map their positions, and look for challenges and opportunities with regard to their chosen internationalization pattern. They can also benchmark other firms’ pathways and fine‐tune their own approach to internationalization.
Originality/value
The paper integrates a large body of research in an important research area in international marketing. It also provides guidance on how to conduct future research in the area, and introduces the content of this special issue of the International Marketing Review.
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Ioannis Kinias, Ilias Kampouris and Stathis Polyzos
It is widely accepted that coauthorship and collaboration promotes intellectual partnerships and improves the quality of publications. This paper examines the relationship between…
Abstract
Purpose
It is widely accepted that coauthorship and collaboration promotes intellectual partnerships and improves the quality of publications. This paper examines the relationship between collaboration, productivity and publications in the field of family business.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors identify the most prolific authors, affiliations and countries and focus on the evolution of research in the field of family business. In doing so, the authors employ social network analysis to discover the structure of the networks and the ways in which authors, institutions and countries interact.
Findings
The empirical results show that collaboration is positively related to productivity, and there is significant evidence that the shaped networks exhibit small-world characteristics, a condition in which collaboration within authors becomes integrated in conjunction with time.
Practical implications
The findings highlight the mechanics of collaborative research production and can be useful to understand the importance of collaboration patterns to be followed in the field of family business.
Originality/value
The contributions are as follows: (a) application of social network analysis to model the coauthorship patterns among individuals, institutions and countries in family business; (b) distinguishing the most degree-central authors in the social network of collaborating academics; (c) investigation of the academic collaborations in family business that have the characteristics of a small-world social network and (d) suggesting a unique connection, through published keywords, between the research priorities of the most central or prolific authors with the research trends in the family business literature. The authors demonstrate that authors' collaboration becomes integrated in conjunction with time.
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Isabel Abinzano, Lucia Garcés-Galdeano and Beatriz Martinez
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of female CEO board members on listed family firms’ corporate default risk, integrating upper echelons theory with social role…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of female CEO board members on listed family firms’ corporate default risk, integrating upper echelons theory with social role theory and the socio-emotional wealth approach and proxying default risk with the Black–Scholes–Merton model. It also searches for possible differences attributable to the type of female CEO.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is applied to a longitudinal sample of listed US family firms. After a preliminary analysis of the main descriptive, several models are estimated with the system GMM estimator, which is a panel data estimator. The models are dynamic, including the lagged value of the dependent variable. In addition, the model estimation is repeated with a different measure of default risk, for robustness.
Findings
This research findings show that default risk diminishes in the presence of a female CEO, whose reduction is even greater if she is a family member. The results are proven to be robust to the measure for proxying default risk.
Originality/value
This study primarily contributes to the existing literature by exploring a possible link between female CEOs, particularly those with a family affiliation, and a lower level of default risk in family firms. It also provides practical implications for policymakers, who would be advised to promote conditions enabling women to contribute towards family business viability. In addition, this study offers encouragement for family business owners to value the potential of their female family members in company succession processes.
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Anita Kerai, Riccardo Marzano, Lucia Piscitello and Chitra Singla
This paper investigates the role of the founder CEO and board independence in shaping the way in which Indian and Italian family firms (FFs) pursue international growth via two…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates the role of the founder CEO and board independence in shaping the way in which Indian and Italian family firms (FFs) pursue international growth via two modes, that is exports and FDI. This article claims that country's context matters in determining the relationship between the presence of the founder CEO and FFs' extent of exports and extent of FDI. Further, this article examines the moderating role of board independence on the above-mentioned founder CEO–FF's international growth relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a fixed-effect panel data method, this article tests the hypotheses on a sample of 1,275 Indian FF-year observations and 705 Italian FF-year observations over the period 2008–2015.
Findings
This article reveals that the presence of a founder CEO is positively associated with the extent of exports but negatively associated with the extent of FDI in Italian firms. However, in case of Indian firms, the presence of the founder CEO is negatively associated with the extent of exports as well as with the extent of FDI. This founder CEO's influence on the firm's international growth is mitigated by the presence of an independent board in Italian firms; however, this moderation is not significant in the case of Indian firms.
Research limitations/implications
It is important to capture heterogeneity within family firms and across institutional contexts while studying family firms' international growth. Further, it is important for international business scholars to theorize for different modes of international growth because challenges faced in expansion via exports are different from the challenges faced in expansion via FDI (foreign subsidiaries). Therefore, family firms leadership might prefer a certain mode of international growth.
Practical implications
The findings of the study imply that national culture and institutional context could play an important role in determining (a) Founder CEO's inclination towards FF's extent of exports and FDI as well as (b) the effectiveness of an independent board in mitigating founder CEO's influence on FF's international growth.
Originality/value
This work is one of the very few studies that examines the impact of FF's heterogeneity and country heterogeneity on two modes of international growth, namely exports and FDI, in the Indian and Italian contexts. Further, this work provides empirical evidence on the independent board's role in mitigating founder CEO's influence in decision making in the case of Italian firms. Extant literature expects an independent board to encourage FFs' international growth both via exports and FDI; this study shows that independent boards could reduce the founder CEO's inclination towards exports and mitigate founder CEO's influence on the decision making; however, this mitigation effect is highly context dependent.