Family Business Sustainability Research Articles

Family business sustainability: the impact of governance and women’s empowerment in Saudi Arabia

Due to their strong emotional interest and ownership control, family firm owners significantly influence their firm’s strategies and governance, which has consequences for their business sustainability practices. The failure to establish or maintain formal organizational structures, and adopt good governance principles, may hinder family firms in their pursuit of long-term sustainability. This study empirically investigated the impact of corporate governance on family firms’ sustainability, with women’s empowerment and culture as moderating and mediating factors, respectively. Data for the study were obtained from a sample of 126 family firms from Saudi Arabia. The study adopted the partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) method. The study results empirically confirmed that corporate governance is positively associated with women’s empowerment, which also assists in achieving business sustainability in family-controlled firms. The adoption of good corporate governance policies, and empowerment of women through their appointment on corporate boards operating in a supportive culture, can reinforce an organization’s mission, purpose and strategies, which can create an enabling environment for family business sustainability.

Sustaining Family Businesses through Business Incubation: An Africa-Focused Review

The influence of business incubation systems on family businesses in African economies has not been thoroughly investigated despite the potential contribution of family businesses to Africa’s economic expansion and the attainment of development goals outlined in the Africa Development Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals. Therefore, this study investigates the potential benefits that family businesses in Africa can derive from engaging in business incubation. This study utilised an integrative literature review methodology to investigate the research question. Twenty-three peer-reviewed articles were systematically selected from the Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases using the following combination of phrases: “family business” and either “business incubation” or “business incubator”. The findings suggest ways to create a mutually beneficial relationship between family businesses and business incubators to improve long-term sustainability, promote collaboration, facilitate knowledge transfer, and foster an entrepreneurial ecosystem. It also recognises challenges, such as cultural alignment in family businesses. Business incubators in Africa can improve the sustainability of family businesses, such as during the succession, by offering support, resources, and guidance. The South African experience is a role model for the rest of the continent, in this regard. Future research should broaden the sources beyond the three databases utilised, including non-peer-reviewed sources such as grey literature, and extend the focus beyond developing economies.

Sustainable Development of Chinese Family Businesses: Exploring the Role of Succession Planning in Maintaining Organizational Sustainability from the Perspective of Socioemotional Wealth

Identifying the factors affecting organizational sustainability is a crucial topic in the field of social science and business research. Especially in family businesses, the most crucial issue is how to maintain corporate sustainability across generations. In this regard, succession planning plays a key role in maintaining the sustainable development of family businesses. From the perspective of socioemotional wealth, this study discusses the motivations and consequences of intrafamily succession by measuring the impact of the internal determining factors of succession planning on family business performance. Based on a sample of 281 Chinese family firms, this study uncovers the relationship between succession planning and organizational performance. The core findings of this study include succession planning is positively related to organizational performance in the matter of the successor’s training; succession planning has a positive effect on organizational performance in terms of the successor’s self-preparation; and succession planning is positively correlated with organizational performance in the aspect of the relationship between the successor and business. By illustrating that the formulation of succession planning is an essential pursuit for family businesses to preserve sustainability and socioemotional wealth, the results reveal ways to facilitate succession planning through internal factors in the family business. This study contributes to organizational sustainable development literature, family business sustainability studies, and succession management research by validating the positive relationship between succession planning and organizational performance, indicating that succession planning is a vital driving force for achieving organizational sustainability.

The Effect of Successor Readiness on Family Business Sustainability

Leadership succession in a family business is the process of transferring leadership from predecessor to business successor, this process involves preparing a successor who will take over leadership and be responsible for the family business. Ineffective succession planning will not be able to make a successor in accordance with company goals that will cause the company to fall. This study aims to determine the effect of successor readiness on the sustainability  of family business. With the object of research of students of the Indonesian University of Education, Tasikmalaya Campus. This study used quantitative methods, with a descriptive approach and journal analysis related to sustainability factors  in family businesses. Based on the results of the study, there are allegations that successor readiness has a positive effect on the sustainability of family  businesses and provides useful insights on how families can improve  family business sustainability through successor readiness.

The Influence of Family Business Creativity on Business Competition

In the era of globalization and evolving market dynamics, family businesses play an important role in the economy. The sustainability of family businesses often depends on their ability to innovate and compete effectively. Creativity is considered the key to gaining an edge in tough business competition. To analyze the influence of family business creativity on business competition. This research uses quantitative methods with a descriptive verification approach to collect and analyze data. Quantitative data was obtained through questionnaires distributed to family members involved in the family business. The object of this research is a company owned by Geulis Umbrella Craftsmen in Tasikmalaya City. These family companies were chosen to see business creativity in facing market competition. The results of this study show that business creativity has a major influence on family business competition, with competition as a significant mediator in this relationship. It is hoped that this research's implications will provide insight into the importance of business creativity in helping family businesses compete in traditional and modern markets.

Sustainability in Family and Nonfamily Businesses in the Wine Industry

The implementation of environmentally sustainable initiatives within organizations is a shared research topic across both sustainability and family business research. Using a case study approach, this paper provides an in-depth exploration of the presence, role, and strategic nature of environmentally sustainable processes within the Chilean wine industry. Our interview process resulted in 21 interviews between July and November of 2014. Our findings suggest that the recognized tendency of family firms to both engage in and benefit from sustainability practices may not only be owed to their desire to preserve family socio-emotional wealth, but also the unique ability to better incorporate, apply, and effectively benefit from such investments. These findings extend previous work in this area by recognizing additional processes necessary for the development of proactive sustainability practices which are not considered using the motivation-based schema common in extant work. Our findings are analyzed and discussed as they relate to both family business and sustainability research and serve as a bridge between these two related research domains.

Apprenticeships and sustainable growth of family businesses: A regional assessment

A practical government policy on apprenticeship is a requirement to continuously advance and encourage the company toward top performance and adaptability for a long-term sustainability. In Nigeria, which has a significant young unemployment problem, apprenticeship has emerged as a key to reducing youth unemployment. Thus, sustainability of family businesses is a source of employment, and continuing apprenticeship practices have also raised the likelihood that an individual will obtain employment in the southern regions of Nigeria. This study aimed to examine how job creation, vocational and technical training, and apprentice competences aid in sustaining family business growth in southern Nigeria. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey and stratified sampling technique; a sample included 329 apprentices in 48 SMEs in southern regions of Nigeria. Using a five-point Likert scale questionnaire, data were analyzed using a normality test, linearity test, and multicollinearity test to ascertain the adequacy of the data. Correlation analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Findings revealed that job creation is related to sustainable family business growth; however, the strength of the correlation, though weak (30.0%), was statistically significant; a significant degree of association also existed between apprentice vocational training and sustainable family business growth; lastly, apprentice competences relate significantly to sustainable family business growth (72.1%, p < 0.05). The study concluded that continuous apprenticeship practices influence the objective of business growth as a pivot for socioeconomic development and a long-term sustainability of family businesses. Acknowledgment The authors would like to sincerely appreciate the Editor-in-Chief and Reviewer(s) for their helpful comments that, in our view, have helped significantly to improve the quality of the manuscript.

Effect of Succession Planning Strategies on the Sustainability of Family Businesses in Nigeria

The study is a descriptive survey designed to investigate the effect of succession planning strategies on the sustainability of family businesses in Nigeria, using mentoring, training, job rotation, coaching, talent management, and internship as proxies of succession planning. The population of the study consists of 79,460 small businesses in 36 states of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory as captured in the database of small and medium enterprises in Nigeria. Multi-stage cluster sampling technique was used to determine the sample and the Taro Yamani formula for calculating sample size was used to arrive at the sample size of 390 small businesses. To provide for anticipated “no response”, a 5-scale Likert questionnaire for data collection was administered to 443 representatives of small businesses across the six geo-political zones of Nigeria, out of which 435 (98.2%) returned validly. The data collected was analyzed using frequencies, percentages, means, correlation, and multiple regression model coefficients to determine the effect of succession strategies on the sustainability of family businesses. 84.4% of the family businesses sampled say they engaged in succession planning, and 22.1% had a written succession plan. Results of analyzing data from the study indicate that mentoring, training, job rotation, coaching, talent management, and internship as succession planning strategies are positively correlated to the sustainability of family businesses in Nigeria with statistical significance. This is corroborated by the F-test result with the F calculated value of 202.5 and p-value 0.000 larger than the 2.01 critical F at 0.05 level of significance, implying that a significant joint impact of all the independent variables exists on the dependent variable sustainability. Further, the multiple linear regression model analysis at a five percent level of significance shows an R-squared of 0.802 which indicates that 80.2% variation in sustainability is attributed to all the independent variables. Consequently, the six hypotheses for the study were rejected as the findings of the study show a statistically significant effect of the succession planning strategies investigated on the sustainability of family businesses in Nigeria. The researcher concludes that effective succession planning will enhance the sustainability of family businesses potentially. The researcher recommends that founders, owners, and managers of family businesses in Nigeria should adopt effective succession planning strategies, with a written plan to make their business sustainable beyond their retirement or death.

Leadership Succession Planning Contributions Towards Family-Owned Business Performance and Sustainability in South Africa

Worldwide, family business has gained prominence as one of the critical vehicles for creating employment and hence made a contribution in the efforts to eradicate poverty. However, most family business lack of leadership succession planning, which eventually lead to low levels of performance and lack of sustainability. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between leadership succession planning, performance, and sustainability of family businesses. A qualitative methodological approach was utilized where participants were selected using purposive and snowball sampling methods. Semi-structured interviews were used in collecting data and the collected data was analyzed thematically. The study found that leadership succession planning is linked to sustainability and general performance within family businesses. Conversely, it was found that levels of sustainability and failure of family businesses are related to their inability to come up with effective succession leadership planning. This finding confirms the vital role that leadership succession planning plays in enhancing the performance and sustainability of a family business.

Strategic Planning and Family Business Sustainability: The Moderating Role of Advisory Role

Strategic Planning and Family Business Sustainability: The Moderating Role of Advisory Role

Business Ethics and Corporate Governance's Influence on the Sustainability of Family Businesses with Company Size as an Intervening Variable

The purpose of the study is to examine the influence of business ethics and corporate governance on the sustainability of family businesses, with company size as a mediating variable. The size of the company is a parameter for assessing and determining the scale of the enterprise. The population in this study consisted of 38 companies that were members of the West Java Jamu Entrepreneurs Association. The determination of the number of samples used purposive sampling with criteria in the form of a family business, so that the sample used was 12 family business companies with 48 respondents. Data collection techniques are carried out by using several instruments, namely questionnaires, interviews, and field observations. According to the findings of this study, business ethics has a positive impact on the long-term viability of a family business. Good corporate governance positively affects the sustainability of the family business. Meanwhile, the size of the company also has a positive effect on the sustainability of the family business. The size of the company turns out to be able to mediate relationships in the mediation variable; the size of the company is able to influence business ethics on the sustainability of the family business, while the mediation variable shows the size of the company is able to also influence Good corporate governance is important for the sustainability of the family business. The findings of this study provide useful information for herbal medicine company owners related to the influence of the variables studied. These findings are useful for employers to better understand the dynamics of family business sustainability in promoting business ethics, good governance, and company size.

New Research Trends in Sustainability in Family Businesses: A Bibliometric Literature Review

Sustainability in family businesses is becoming an exigent, interesting, and ever-evolving topic in the field of business research, owing to the requirements of sustainable development agendas for all types of companies. The growing body of research on this topic, considering traditional and new challenges for family firms, encourages the synthesis and organization of existing knowledge through a literature review. This study conducts a combination of different analyses with bibliometric techniques to provide an overview of the evolution of scientific literature on sustainability in family businesses and its structure in terms of relevant groups of researchers, most cited articles, and the contributing journals. Finally, future research endeavors are suggested for each identified open theme. Unlike previous reviews, the present work considered emergent sub-fields such as environmental studies and environmental sciences in document selection, which have been incorporated into the traditional research fields like business, management, and economics and finance in the context of family businesses.

Socially responsible activities and the economic performance of family businesses

Promoting the idea of socially responsible business is an undeniably important topic that resonates in both theory and practice. Its influence on business performance has been theoretically substantiated and has been confirmed in many empirical studies, though this has been based on research conducted in large companies. It is only recently that studies connecting the principles of CSR and the business activities of SMEs or family businesses that make up a decisive proportion of SMEs have appeared. This article is devoted to research into the implementation of the principles of CSR in family businesses and their economic performance. The research was conducted on the basis of data obtained both from a questionnaire survey among owners of family businesses and from accounting data. The attitudes of owners of family businesses towards activities typical of CSR were proven to be reflected in the economic results of the companies in a sample of Czech family MSMEs. Our research proved that family businesses that support work-life balance and good relations with employees achieve better performance, namely higher profitability and lower indebtedness. These results confirm the positive impact of CSR principles on long-term sustainability of family businesses and their importance to the country’s overall economy.

Leadership, Communication, and Job Satisfaction for Employee Engagement and Sustainability of Family Businesses in Latin America

This research focuses on the determinants of employee engagement in family businesses in Peru. The study is based on previous research that showed the importance of organisational culture, leadership, and human resource management practices to achieve effective business performance. The methodological strategy was to conduct a qualitative, quantitative, and documentary analysis research. The study found that participatory and authentic leadership styles, effective communication, and job satisfaction were key factors to retain talent in two family businesses and small to medium-sized enterprises in Peru. These factors can enhance employee engagement, which is critical for the success of family businesses. The results suggest that Peruvian family businesses can improve their sustainability and contribute positively to the economic growth of the country by utilising different measures. They can prioritise leadership, communication, and job satisfaction; offer opportunities for employee development and growth; provide competitive compensation packages; and create a positive work environment. The findings have implications for family businesses in emerging markets as well as for businesses operating in consolidated markets.

New value creation and family business sustainability: Identification of an intergenerational conflict resolution strategy

Unresolved tensions frequently lead to the failure of family businesses. Parents and their children should be able to work together to resolve protracted problems. This study intends to explore the intergenerational conflict resolution strategy in an effort to develop new family business values and ensure the sustainability of family enterprises. The respondents in this study were 152 family business owners in Eastern Indonesia. The analysis used is PLS-SEM. The results of this study indicate that creating new value requires three intergenerational conflict resolution strategies: intergenerational collaboration, accommodation, and forcing. The results of this study also show that a family business that is able to create new value will be able to have an impact on the sustainability of the family business. This study contributes to the Thomas-Kilmann conflict mode approach, wherein the Thomas-Kilmann conflict mode instrument method leads to the creation of new values and sustainability in family enterprises.

Analisis Confirmatory Faktor Pembentuk Suksesi Family Bisnis UMKM di Kota Payakumbuh

The study aims to analyze how the influence of succession on the sustainability of family businesses in Payakumbuh City. This type of research is a quantitative descriptive study that uses primary and secondary data with data sources coming from people who have family businesses in Payakumbuh City. The analytical method used is Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA).The results of the analysis show that the social responsibility variable has no significant effect on the sustainability of the family business in Payakumbuh city. The succession variable has no significant effect on the sustainability of the family business in Payakumbuh. This happens because the sample in this study is still a lot of family businesses or new SMEs in Payakumbuh City.

The Role of Governance in Achieving Sustainability in Family-Owned Business: Do Responsible Innovation and Entrepreneurial Culture Matter?

Research on family business sustainability has seen a surge over the last decade. Despite this, very little research has been performed to investigate the impact of governance on family business sustainability. Building on this gap, this paper empirically examines the impacts from organizational governance and responsible innovation on the sustainability of family-owned businesses. It also evaluates entrepreneurial culture’s contribution as a moderator of the nexus of organizational governance, responsible innovation, and business sustainability in Saudi Arabia. A sample of 396 responses were collected from 87 family enterprises; respondents were generally principal managers and/or main business owners. The relationships in the conceptual model were tested with structural equation modelling using SmartPLS. The results show that organizational governance and responsible innovation positively and statistically significantly impact business sustainability among family-owned businesses in Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, entrepreneurial culture significantly and positively moderates the organizational governance, responsible innovation and business sustainability of family-owned businesses in Saudi Arabia. The results guide regulators in regulation formulation related to the achievement of business sustainability through good governance and effective entrepreneurial culture. Government and regulatory authorities must therefore encourage family-owned businesses in their predominantly economic functions in society, while also engaging in sustainability-oriented policy making and programs.

Sustainability of Taiwanese SME Family Businesses in the Succession Decision-Making Agenda

SME family businesses play a vital role in the world economy as a recognized sustainable contributor to economic growth. Aged owners of Taiwan’s family businesses have become the biggest problem; because of the dramatically changing technology and business environment, many family businesses are faced with an inheritance crisis. This study tries to identify what the priority of influential factors is for the leader’s decision-making of succession. Based on the stakeholder, upper echelons, stewardship, and agency theories, we summarized 27 crucial factors derived from four dimensions (individual, interpersonal, organizational, and the environmental) after reviewing the relevant literature. This study was based on multilevel research and a multidisciplinary perspective. After using the Delphi method and decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method, we applied the importance–performance analysis (IPA) to determine the key factor priority. The results are important for strengthening family business theory and identifying the conditions that best promote the future growth and sustainability of family businesses.

Effect of Culture and Religion on Family Business Sustainability: The Case of Egypt

Effect of Culture and Religion on Family Business Sustainability: The Case of Egypt

Where Have all the Families Gone— Is There a Future for Family Businesses?

In this essay, the author describes some of the trends regarding the family that he has witnessed over his lifetime as well as raise some questions concerning family formation, structure, and size that may influence the creation and sustainability of family businesses. Moreover, he makes some suggestions for those who, like himself, would like to see family businesses survive and thrive in the future.