Family business research: The next generation

Abstract

The first quarter of the 21st century has seen significant advancements in family business scholarship. While many scholars have sought to develop a singular “theory of the family firm,” most research has instead focused on understanding how salient management and entrepreneurship theories operate within family firms, thereby enriching our knowledge of the heterogeneity of this business type. This introduction to the special collection of papers from the 2024 Theories of Family Enterprise Conference integrates and expands multiple theoretical frameworks examined within family firms, reviews and synthesizes their contributions, and extends their implications for the broader family firm literature, while also offering multiple directions for future research. Further, the seven articles in this special collection help to further unpack the heterogeneity of this business type and shed light on the advances being made from a theoretical perspective for understanding family businesses in this next generation of scholarly inquiry.