IFERA 2024 CONFERENCE

FAMILY FIRMS: LEADING FOR IMPACT

Family businesses are core players in addressing grand challenges worldwide. These firms are especially well-positioned to integrate social, business, and environmental goals into their operations. Having the connection between a family and a business promotes the concern for financial and non-financial goals (Gómez-Mejía et al., 2007), a long-term view (Lumpkin et al., 2010), and doing good for the world (Feliu & Botero, 2016). Combined, these factors can drive positive change in the communities where family businesses exist (Sasaki et al., 2019). For example, previous research suggests that given the link that exists between a business family and their company’s reputation (Ward, 1988), family firms are more likely to lead by example and behave as “good corporate citizens”, prioritizing the well-being of stakeholders to maintain a good reputation (Binz et al., 2017; Deephouse & Jaskiewicz, 2013). Additionally, the focus on continuity and generational transfer helps family firms create environments that foster a sense of responsibility towards future generations, prompting them to adopt practices with positive impact (Hanson et al., 2019; Martín & Gómez-Mejía, 2016; Rau et al., 2019; Zellweger et al., 2012). Indeed, family firms that promote long-term orientation exhibit a stronger dedication to positive social impact when compared to family firms with low long- term orientation (Memili et al., 2018).

However, having family leadership shape business decisions can also bring difficulties, given the paradoxes that emerge with the combination of family and business (Artz et al., 2010; Schuman et al., 2010). These paradoxes include tradition versus change, family liquidity versus business growth, or founder control versus successor’s autonomy (Ingram et al., 2016; Schuman et al., 2010). These paradoxical attributes of family firms have sparked research to understand better how family firms manage these paradoxes (McAdam et al., 2020) and, more recently, when and how family businesses lead an impact on the world around them (see Claub et al., 2022; Randerson, 2022). With a commitment to preserving their nonfinancial preferences and socioemotional wealth, family firms are well-positioned to engage in social practices Field proactively (Cennamo et al., 2012; Cruz et al., 2014). By embracing purpose-driven strategies and a “holistic conception of value” (Santos, 2012), through their leadership role, they can inspire others, contribute to sustainable development goals, and serve as role models for businesses seeking to make a meaningful difference.

To continue building our understanding of business families and their firms’ impact on the world around us, we propose as a theme for IFERA 2024 “Family Firms: Leading for Impact.” By proposing this theme, we aim to encourage a comprehensive understanding of the role that family firms have as catalysts for social change, to provide new insights into areas that have been relatively under-researched and offer new insights into the important role that business families and their firms have in our current environment, and the challenges they face in executing that role.

We invite scholars to explore the influence of family dynamics on driving social change and to investigate the intricate balance between long-term orientation, which fosters a commitment to sustainability, and potential gaps in environmental practices, starting from, but not limited to, the following questions:

1. How do family firms and business families leverage their unique attributes and values to drive social change within their communities?
2. What specific strategies do family firms employ to integrate business, social and environmental objectives into their business operations and to promote sustainable development? What role does the business family have in this process?
3. How does the intergenerational nature of family firms influence their approach to social change? How do they ensure the continuity of their impact across generations?
4. What are the key challenges family firms face as social change promoters? How do they overcome these challenges?
5. How do family firms collaborate with external stakeholders (e.g., nonprofits, government agencies, and local communities) to amplify their social impact?
6. How do family firms navigate the tension between profitability and social responsibility? What innovative approaches do they adopt to align these objectives? What role does the business family have in this process?
7. What role do family governance and ownership structure play in shaping the social change agenda of family firms?
8. How do family firms measure and evaluate the social impact of their initiatives? What factors contribute to their long-term sustainability and success?
9. What lessons can be learned from successful family firms that have effectively driven social change? How can these insights be applied to other organizations or contexts?
10. How do family firms inspire and influence other businesses and stakeholders to adopt socially responsible practices? What is the broader impact of their role as social change promoters in the business ecosystem?
11. How do leadership dynamics in family firms influence stakeholder engagement toward impact?
12. What is the long-term impact of family firm leadership on stakeholder value creation?
13. What role do family firms play in the growing field of impact investing?
14. How are family firms transitioning from corporate social responsibility to corporate social innovation?

We welcome and encourage cross-disciplinary submissions analyzing different units of analysis (family, firm, individuals, etc.), using diverse theoretical perspectives, conceptual explorations, and new and different methodological approaches (qualitative and quantitative) to explore these topics. We also invite the submission of research projects investigating other topics unrelated to the conference theme, which help advance our understanding of family firms and entrepreneurial families.

We look forward to your submissions!