Research Hotspots and Tendencies of Family Firms in China

Abstract

Family firm is a unique type of organization that has existed for a long time; however, it has only been researched recently as a mainstream subject in organization and management studies. Due to their significant heterogeneity, relevant studies in China and other countries present both common features, and diverse characteristics, which embedded in different contexts. To better understand how the family firm’s theory can enhance the development of family firm studies in China, we analyze and compare the evolution of family firm’s studies in China and other countries of the world. The paper built on the databases, Web of Science (WoS) and Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index (CSSCI), and use CiteSpace V, which is software for visualizing knowledge domains. The result shows that: 1) there are many studies on the governance, succession and performance of family firms in both China and other countries; 2) in literature of WoS, the literature had transformed from governance of company to a deep understanding of the influences of family characteristics on business strategy and entrepreneurship; 3) most studies of the Chinese family firm are about firm governance. Nevertheless, the definition and studies on family firms fail to connect with the Chinese culture and understanding of “family”. Additionally, the aspects, such as sustainable development, ecological efficiency and international competition of family firms, need further exploration.