What is a Family Firm and Why Does It Matter? A Survey of Family Firm Definitions

Abstract

We present a systematic survey of how family firms are defined in empirical studies, focusing on five key conceptual dimensions: ownership, control, management, embeddedness, and succession. Our findings highlight three main points: First, the definition of family firms significantly influences key outcomes, such as their prevalence, performance relative to non-family firms, and innovation activity. Second, among our sample of 122 papers, 29 different binary definitions are used. Third, the most common criteria for defining family firms are ownership, control, and management participation. We conclude by recommending that future research in family business prioritize robustness analyses using multiple definitions of family firms.