Does regional context matter for family firm employment growth?

Abstract

This study investigates the proposition that family firms have comparative employment growth advantages in relation to non-family firms in regions with relatively low population density. This premise is tested across metropolitan, urban and rural regions using total population data on domestically and privately owned, single-plant, non-listed limited liability firms in Sweden. A panel of more than 89,000 firms is followed over a seven-year period from 2004 to 2010. The average family firm is found to grow more slowly than the average non-family firm across the urban-rural context. However, in line with the study’s conjecture, these differences are found to decrease across metropolitan, urban and rural regions.