The relationship between the manager and growth in small firms

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to improve the understanding of the relationship between the manager and growth in small firms, through a review of earlier research.Design/methodology/approachA review of articles published during the last 25 years is carried out in order to answer the question: How does the top manager influence growth in small firms?FindingsThree key relationships are identified: between growth and, respectively, managerial traits and characteristics, managerial intentions, and managerial behavior or roles. The diverse findings in the literature are contradictory and give a paradoxical picture of the impact of the manager. A deeper analysis of the results from the review, supplemented with leadership theory, yields a better understanding of small‐firm growth with a special focus on the behavior of the manager.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper problematizes the complexity in managing small‐firm growth, and can be further empirically validated by using multiple methods including qualitative ones such as observational studies.Practical ImplicationsThe findings have a bearing on education and policy implications. If a behavior can be identified that promotes small firms' growth, education and policy implications can be developed in line with these results.Originality/valueIn small firms there seems to be a general consensus that managers do influence the performance of small firms, but so far there has not been a systematic review of earlier empirical research, that is done in this paper. From this review, a more complete picture of how managers influence growth in small firms is presented.