In this article, we provide guidelines that are useful to family business researchers when deciding whether and how to use case studies as well as to reviewers and editors when evaluating case study work. Drawing on examples from our published qualitative research and the complementary insights...

In this study we investigate how the dispersion of family ownership among family members affects the performance of small-to-medium-size family firms. Based on agency theory and prior research on family firms, we develop arguments pointing to the existence of a U-shaped relationship between the...

In this article we compare the governance choices of family and non-family firms regarding their subcontracting tendencies. Based on transaction cost theory, we argue that family firms are less likely to engage in subcontracting than non-family firms and that kinship ties, the extent to which a...

We apply organizational identity theory to examine factors that lead family firms to create a family firm image and investigate how a family firm image impacts firm performance. We find that family firm pride, community social ties, and long-term orientation are positively associated with the...

Drawing from organizational identity theory, we explore how family ownership and family expectations influence family firm image and entrepreneurial risk taking, and ultimately firm performance. We find support for a fully mediated model, utilizing a sample of 163 Swiss family firms. Family...

Family offices have been in existence for at least two centuries and have substantial impact on the wealth and prosperity of the families behind them. However, despite their practical relevance, family offices remain an under-researched topic in family business studies. Drawing upon stewardship...

Family firms without able and willing family successors are frequently sold to non-family managers through management buy-outs (MBOs). Whether MBOs create value is thought to be dependent upon the ability to reduce owner–manager agency costs. In this article we examine the agency costs of MBOs...