The grand environmental challenge of climate change represents one of the key ongoing, long-term obstacles for organizations. When interrupted by short-term exogenous crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and the shock of the Ukrainian war, the urgency of addressing this grand challenge becomes more pressing, albeit more challenging. While family firms as long-term oriented organizations might generally be well equipped to tackle climate change, we know surprisingly little on how they simultaneously experience and navigate the long-term horizon of grand environmental challenges and the short-term pressures of exogenous crises. Drawing on research around long-term orientation (LTO) and a growing stream investigating intertemporal tensions, we investigate this question building on 41 interviews with nine family firms in the context of the European manufacturing industry. Applying an abductive approach, our findings unveil three intertemporal tensions that unfold when short-term and long-term objectives collide. Besides, we show that family firms, due to their LTO, perceive these tensions with a greater intensity. Navigating the perceived tensions, we identify two mechanisms employed by family firms that mitigate the negative implications of LTO. Doing so, we contribute to extant research on grand challenges and cast light on the downsides of LTO in family firms.

The COVID-19 crisis has caused significant and unforeseen problems for entrepreneurs. Normally, entrepreneurs would seek social support in their networks to help deal with these issues. However, due to social distancing, physical networking is more difficult, and instead, entrepreneurs have to turn to alternative support sources, such as online communities. We, therefore, investigate support-seeking in online communities during the COVID-19 pandemic, and thereby uncover action possibilities that online communities offer to entrepreneurs. We analyze conversation data from an online community of entrepreneurs on Reddit (r/startups) between January 1st and July 7th, 2020, totaling 64’718 community posts. Through a qualitative analysis, we outline what types of support entrepreneurs seek, how support-seeking unfolds, and discover four action possibilities that online communities offer: Online communities help entrepreneurs to resolve problems, reframe their problems, reflect on their situation and refocus thinking and efforts. Our paper contributes to (1) the debate around entrepreneurs’ support during the COVID-19 pandemic; (2) the knowledge about digital entrepreneurial support-seeking and (3) the growing interest in the digital affordances that entrepreneurs can access, such as online communities.

COVID-19 has caused significant and unforeseen problems for entrepreneurs. While entrepreneurs would normally seek social support to help deal with these issues, due to social distancing, physical networks are often not available. Consequently, entrepreneurs must turn to alternative support sources, such as online communities, raising the question of how support is created in such spaces. Drawing on an affordance perspective, we investigate how entrepreneurs interact with online communities and base our qualitative analysis on conversation data (76,365 posts) from an online community of entrepreneurs on Reddit during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings draw out four affordances that online communities offer to entrepreneurs (resolving problems, reframing problems, reflecting on situations, refocusing thinking and efforts), resulting in a framework of entrepreneurial support creation in online communities. Thus, our study contributes to debates around (1) entrepreneurs’ support during COVID-19 and (2) digital affordances in the entrepreneurship context.

As the field of family business has grown immensely over the last couple of decades, a multitude of theories from different fields has been introduced. However, there are surprisingly few attempts to provide an overview of theories that may be of particular interest for the family business scholar. Thus, this introduction chapter gives a critical overview of theoretical perspectives, before taking a closer look at the use of theories in family business studies. Regarding the current state of the family business field, the authors argue for putting more effort in building theory from family business research as well as a stronger emphasis on ‘giving back’ to theories borrowed from other fields. Lastly, the chapter describes the development of the book and introduces the 13 chapters and their contributions.

Family business has become an increasingly studied field over the last decade and forms one of the fastest growing research areas today. The uniqueness of family businesses is the interaction between two systems; the family and the business systems, leading to specific characteristics that we rarely see in other types of businesses. In order to understand the interaction between the family and the business systems, researchers have adopted a diverse range of theories from different fields. The contributors provide a thorough discussion of thirteen theoretical perspectives that have been used in family business research to a varying degree. Each chapter introduces a theory, demonstrates its previous application in family business research and offers compelling ideas for future research that could contribute to both the family business field and the original theory behind it. This book aims to spark new insights for researchers and PhD students in the field of family business, and is also a good introduction for researchers who are new to the field.

Purpose Learning in organizations is well-recognized as a key determinant of innovation and success in competitive markets, and a rich literature examines learning mechanisms in large-sized and professionally-run organizations. Relatively little is known about the learning processes in family-run firms, most of whom are small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) led by a single family SME owner-manager connected in a family network. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate how family SME owner-managers engage in learning and how those learning processes are affected by family SME-specific characteristics. Design/methodology/approach Using pragmatic learning theory as an interpretive lens, this study conducts a qualitative multi-case study involving 61 interviews in family SMEs with family SME owner-managers, family members, employees and customers. Findings The within- and cross-case analysis helps identify the mechanisms, barriers and enablers of learning and innovation in family SMEs. The study develops and pinpoints the family owner managers' "functional overload" as a major barrier to learning and employee empowerment, family-members' support and customer feedback as critical resources in overcoming such functional overload. Yet, these resources turn out to be major amplifiers of functional overload in later phases of the learning process, thus impeding learning and innovation. Originality/value The study provides novel insights into learning processes and innovation within family SMEs, outlines the double-edged involvement of family members, employees and customers for learning processes, and provides nuance to pragmatic learning theory.

Relationer är en central och betydande del av våra liv och utgör själva grunden i organisationers uppbyggnad. De ger mening åt vårt arbete, skapar kontakter och formar organisationer. Denna avhandling bidrar till den växande litteraturen om arbetsplatsrelationer genom att studera verkställande direktör (VD) i en organisationsform som i sig bygger på relationer: familjeföretag. Med fokus på extern VD i familjeföretag undersöker denna avhandling betydelsen av relationer för externa VD:ar, det arbete de utför och de organisationer de verkar i. Den bygger på ett flertal relationella teoretiska perspektiv och använder konceptuella ansatser och djupgående longitudinella fallstudier.

Den första artikeln går igenom, organiserar och utvecklar litteraturen om externa VD:ar genom att identifiera gap och ifrågasätta förgivettagna antaganden. Den andra artikeln beskriver hur triadrelationerna mellan en extern VD och medlemmarna i den nuvarande och nästa generations ägarfamilj påverkar huruvida en VD stannar i eller lämnar familjeföretaget. Den tredje artikeln följer en professionaliseringsprocess över 10 år och visar hur familjeföretag överprofessionaliserar. Den fjärde artikeln följer en VD:s uppdrag och omorganisation i ett familjeföretag under 16 månader och undersöker hur jobb designas, skapas och ifrågasätts samt hur ett nytt jobbsystem växer fram.

Denna avhandling bidrar genom att introducera relationsarbete som en kärnaspekt av VD:s arbete genom att utöka vår kunskap om ledare i familjeföretag och genom att utmana förståelsen för professionalisering i familjeföretag. Den bidrar också till praktiker genom att ge riktlinjer för hur relationer mellan familjeägare och (potentiella) externa VD:ar kan struktureras.

As the field of family business matures, research has focused on actors outside the owner family. The most important non-family member a family firm can hire is arguably a non-family CEO. Given the limited pool of family members, family firms regularly hire such actors, but our knowledge of them is fragmented. Using a systematic literature review, this article collects, organizes and structures current knowledge on the impact of non-family CEOs in family firms. I then propose a research agenda by engaging in ‘gapspotting’ and ‘assumption-challenging’, first outlining gaps in the existing literatures and proposing research questions to fill them, then identifying and problematizing three underlying assumptions in the literature. Finally, I develop alternatives to stimulate new research about non-family CEOs.

One of the most prevalent elements shaping organizations is that of jobs and the systems they form. Building on the literature on job design, job crafting and their interplay, I investigate how job systems change during a reorganization. The findings show that job systems change through a contestation process between designing and crafting that undermines the existing job system while unintentionally creating a framework for an emerging job system. The emergent system stabilizes as employees increasingly accomplish work through that system. The article contributes to the literature on work design by investigating the interplay between job design and crafting and by outlining the consequences of crafting for job systems. The article further contributes to the understanding of the actors involved in job design and crafting, and it adds to the growing literature investigating the interplay of formal and informal structures.

Social identity theory has given one of the most compelling answers to the question ‘who am I’ by linking identity to membership in social groups. After its adoption to organisational studies, where it has been used to understand, explain and forecast group behaviour, social identity theory has recently been adapted to family business research. After shortly briefly introducing social identity theory and its development, the chapter reviews how the theory has been used in family business research. As social identity theory in family business research has not been used to its fullest potential, the chapter then outlines several ways through which new insights into issues such as succession, non-family management and ownership could be created. In the conclusion, the chapter suggests a possible methodology for capturing social identity processes and proposes how family business research could offer new insights into social identity

Formal and informal structures shape organizations and the interaction of actors within.Surprisingly, just recently organizational theorists have started focusing on studying the interplayof both structures. However, most studies focus on how formal influence informal structures,viewing formal changes as clear. Building on a 16-month case study of a reorganization and CEOsuccession in a family-owned company, the study investigates the interplay of formal and informalstructures. I find that informal structures can, in times of weak formal structures, partly substitutetasks of the formal organization through processes of encapsulation and rerouting, creating atemporal ‘shadow organization’. The study thus contributes to the literature on organizing andorganizational design by showing how informal structures can shape formal organizing.

An increasing number of workers turn to digital platforms–such as Fiverr, Freelancer, and Upwork–as an alternative to traditional work arrangements. Digital platforms govern how gig workers join, move through, and leave platforms – often with the help of self-learning algorithms. While digital platforms and algorithms take on HRM practices, we know little about how HRM activities unfold on digital work platforms in the gig economy. The study therefore aims to understand how HRM activities apply to and take shape on digital platforms by studying worker perceptions. We combine supervised text analysis with an in-depth qualitative content analysis, relying on 12’924 scraped comments from an online forum of workers on Upwork. We outline five conversations on HRM practices that pertain to access and mobility, training and development, scoring and feedback, appraisal and control and platform literacy and support. Based on these findings, we build five propositions about how digital work platforms employ HRM activities. Our paper contributes to recent work on HRM on digital platforms by (1) developing a new mixed-methods approach that illustrates how the content of HRM practices may differ from traditional organizations, (2) highlighting the changing role of actors in creating HRM practices by introducing the concept of ‘crowd-created’ HRM practices, and (3) conceptualizing how digital platforms employ a ‘hybrid HRM approach’. 

Organizations often create new businesses, so-called corporate ventures (CVs), with the purpose of fostering innovation. However, not all venture initiatives turn out to be innovative. Prior research in particular refers to the ambivalent role of the parent firm's dominant coalition in fostering or hindering innovation in CVs. Using a configurational (fsQCA) approach, we investigate the interplay of five key conditions at the parent firm, the parent firm-venture intersection, and venture levels that potentially drive CV innovation. Building on 62 interviews from 43 corporate ventures, we identify four equifinal configurations and outline four roles that the dominant coalition plays in creating CV innovation. This study contributes to the understanding of which CV configurations drive innovation, extends the role of the dominant coalition in corporate venturing, and shows how dominant coalition involvement can replace autonomy as a driver of innovation.

Family firms have long faced pressures to “professionalize” their business and even their owner family’s systems. However, how professionalization unfolds over time and what it means for the business and family systems are unclear. We combine literature on professionalization and practice adoption to investigate how family firms adopt professional practices and adapt them to the underlying family and business systems. Relying on a longitudinal single case study, we have followed the professionalization process in a family firm for over a decade. Our findings show how family firms utilize four distinct modes of professionalization to balance family and business needs with professional practice requirements. We observe and conceptualize how family firms “overprofessionalize” when they adopt practices with an excessive degree of extensiveness, fidelity, and synchrony and show how overprofessionalization can be especially harmful to the family system. Thus, our study contributes by critiquing professionalization and focusing on the systems for which practices are adopted.

Professionalization has become ubiquitous among a broad range of organizations, promising increased efficiency and legitimacy. However, extant research depicts professionalization mostly as a binary change and largely ignores its temporal and processual nature, resulting in a lack of insights into how professionalization unfolds and how organizations deal with its inherent tensions. Therefore, we take a processual perspective on professionalization, studying it as a transformation toward a more rationalized, managerialized, and formalized organization through multiple practice adoption. Relying on a longitudinal single case study of a Swedish family firm that professionalized its business and family ownership domains, our processual analysis reveals unique types of professionalization and four practice interaction mechanisms through which organizations deal with tensions in the professionalization process. We contribute by conceptualizing a process model of professionalization, casting light on practice interaction mechanisms, and outlining implications of professionalization for organizational goals.

Pressures to professionalize family firms increasingly encompass ownership practices. Relying on a 10-year single-case study, we show how the parallel professionalization of business and family governance interact over time and how conflicts of norms, introduced through professional practices, affect family and business. We thus cast an ambivalent picture of professionalization. © 

Interpersonal relationships are an important factor in organizations, and a growing number of articles examine how such relationships affect why people stay or leave organizations. In this article, we investigate how affective attachment between actors influences the turnover and retention process of non-family CEOs in family firms. By employing a social exchange perspective, we reveal under which conditions affective attachment come into being. We focus on the relationship between a non-family CEO and two generations of the owner family. Conceptualizing their relationship as an exchange triad, we show how imbalances influence the affective attachment created in this triad and outline the implications for turnover. Our article contributes to the literature on family businesses and turnover by linking the affective side of interpersonal relationships to CEO retention and turnover.