The influence of private family firm characteristics on audit fees: the family name as a red flag

Purpose This study aims to examine the relationship between family firm characteristics and audit fees. It also examines the extent to which the family name is considered a red flag during the risk assessment of these firm characteristics. Design/methodology/approach Using an external panel data set that includes 1,252 firm-year observations of 204 private German firms with a time series from 2010–2016, regression analyses were conducted to test the hypotheses. Findings This study’s results indicate that family involvement in management and the supervisory board are negatively related to audit fees, suggesting less demand and supply of audit effort due to lower Type I agency conflicts. Family ownership is found to be positively associated with audit fees due to higher Type II agency conflicts. Moreover, the negative effect of family involvement in management on audit fees becomes weaker if the firm name contains the family name, indicating that it is considered a red flag by auditors during their risk assessment. Originality/value Prior studies that examined audit fees in family firms mainly compared family firms to non-family firms. However, auditors are not likely to look at firms in a dichotomous way during their risk assessment, especially as there are numerous definitions of family firms. Instead, they will assess the underlying characteristics regarding management, ownership and governance, although a firm name containing the family name may influence this assessment. This study contributes to the literature by accounting for the heterogeneity of family firms and examining how auditors will assess this heterogeneity.

Heterogeneity in Family Firms

This research explores in greater depth the importance of considering the heterogeneity between family businesses so as to better understand the differences in their strategic behavior, performance and business results. With this, we attempt to contribute to the theories on the relationship between corporate governance and strategic management in the field of family business research. Our study identifies the different configurations that may be adopted in the ownership structures and the management and governance bodies of family firms, analyzing how these configurations are related to the firm’s strategic outcomes. Using a sample of 111 family firms, we perform a cluster analysis that allows us to determine distinct types of family businesses based on a set of dimensions regarding the characteristics of their governance bodies, both in business and in the family, as well as their ownership structure and degree of family involvement in management tasks. We then link the different types found with the profiles of managers, the repertoire of strategies used by these companies, and the differences in obtaining results in recent years.

Managerial Controls in Private Family Firms: The Influence of a Family’s Decision Premises

In most studies, the affiliation of the manager (family-affiliated or non-family affiliated) and supposedly related behavior (agent or steward) is considered the sole antecedent to explain a family business’ (non) professionalization of managerial controls. This paper, based on Luhmann’s new system theory, examines whether a family’s decision premises influence the design of managerial controls in family firms in addition to a manager’s family affiliation status. Using survey data of 135 large and medium-sized Brazilian family firms and testing the hypotheses with SEM, this study provides evidence that a family’s decision premises significantly influence the design of managerial controls in family firms. This study provides evidence that when a family’s intention to transfer the firm to next generation (TGO) is high, more formal controls, as well as controls of a more participative nature are adopted in a family firm. Moreover, the results do not indicate that the level of family involvement in management affects the design of controls in firms with high TGO. The results only showed a significant relationship between a family’s intention to control and influence (FCI) the firm and the absence of participative controls. In addition, these findings also illustrate that each single family-induced decision premise has the potential to explain family firm behavior, since each of the two premises considered in our study is related to a different design of the controls adopted by the family firm.

Refining the influence of family involvement in management on firm performance: The mediating role of technological innovation efficiency

Determining what factors influence firm performance constitutes an essential issue in both the management and the family firm research fields. This article, building on the resource-based view perspective, develops a mediation model that involves a unique intervening mechanism, namely, technological innovation efficiency (TI efficiency), with the potential to explain the inconsistencies found in prior work on the ways through which family involvement in management affects performance outcomes. Regression analyses utilizing a longitudinal sample of 1,118 Spanish private firms largely support the hypothesized mediating relationship, revealing that TI efficiency leads to richer firm performance in family firms with active family involvement in management. Overall, our findings help elucidate the black box of performance outcomes within family firms and make several contributions to theory and practice. JEL CLASSIFICATION L25; M12; O32

How important is family involvement for small companies’ growth?

PurposeOur paper seeks to further understand how family involvement in management influences firm growth.Design/methodology/approachUsing a sample of small high-tech firms, we classify three different types of firms: family firms managed by family-CEOs, family firms managed by non-family CEOs and non-family firms.FindingsConsistent with our expectations, we show that firms managed by family-CEOs have less firm growth in comparison with the other two groups. When the family firm is managed by non-family CEOs, the presence of another family member in management positions has a negative impact on firm growth. Finally, we found that founder-led family firms have better firm growth than descendant-led family firms.Research limitations/implicationsImplications for the theory of family firms are discussed.Originality/valueThe value of the present study is to analyse in depth the heterogeneity of the family business trying to close the gap by exploring the effect of family involvement on small firm growth. Thus, we will find different behaviours of these family companies, depending on the family member’s presence in management positions.

How Family Involvement in Management Affects the Innovative Behavior of Private Firms

By taking insights from the Socioemotional Wealth theory, this chapter investigates the effect of family involvement in management on firms' innovative behavior, namely on their innovation effort. Furthermore, this research analyses whether firms are more willing to develop innovative efforts when they are engaged in technological collaborations with external partners, such as suppliers or customers. Authors used a panel dataset on 3,060 observations of Spanish manufacturing firms for the 2000–2012 period. The findings show a negative incidence of family managers on firms' innovative efforts. The empirical findings also reveal that technological collaborations with suppliers weaken the negative effect of family involvement in management on innovative effort.

Understanding Family Firm Profitability Heterogeneity

Understanding family firm heterogeneity has become a topic of critical importance among academics and practitioners in the family business research field. This chapter aims to provide new insights into this theme by examining the differences in profitability within the pool of family firms. Furthermore, this chapter introduces an exceptional strategic element, namely innovative effort, to analyse when and to what extent the deployed innovative effort influences the family involvement in management-firm profitability relationship. Using a panel dataset on 3,164 observations of Spanish private manufacturing firms over the 2000–2015 period, the findings reveal significant differences in the profitability of family firms depending on the degree of family involvement in the firm's management. The findings also show that innovative effort reinforces the positive effect that family involvement in management exerts on firm profitability.

Entrepreneurial orientation and product innovation. The moderating role of family involvement in management.

In this current research it has been examined, firstly, the Entrepreneurial orientation in relation with Product innovation, Incremental innovation and Radical innovation, and, secondly, the moderating effect of Family involvement in the management of companies in the relationship between Entrepreneurial orientation and Product innovation, Incremental innovation and Radical innovation. Using a sample of 634 Spanish family firms, the results found conclude that the Entrepreneurial orientation has a positive effect on Product innovation, Incremental innovation and Radical innovation, and moreover, they reveal that the Family involvement in the management of companies has a moderating effect on these relations, witnessing that family firms with higher scale of Family involvement in the management of the companies reduces the effect of Entrepreneurial orientation on Product innovation, Incremental innovation and finally, Radical innovation.

Examining the Impact of Innovation Forms on Sustainable Economic Performance: The Influence of Family Management

The aim of this research is to explore the effect that innovation, as a potential source of sustained competitive advantage and firm growth, has on the achievement of sustainable economic performance. In particular, this paper empirically examines the influence of four innovation forms (intramural R&D, extramural R&D, product innovation, and process innovation) on firms’ sustainable economic performance, considering the moderating effect of family involvement in management. To test the hypotheses, random-effects regression analyses are applied to a longitudinal sample of 598 Spanish private manufacturing firms throughout the 2006–2015 period. The results show a negative effect of intramural and extramural R&D on sustainable economic performance and a positive effect of process innovation on sustainable economic performance. Moreover, a reinforced relationship between process innovation and sustainable economic performance is also revealed when family involvement in management acts as a moderator. The findings make several contributions to research and practice.