On the goals of family firms: A review and integration

Abstract

In this article, we present a review and integration of 76 articles published in peer-reviewed journals from 1992 to 2016 in order to answer two research questions: what are the goals of family firms and how are they integrated according to extant research? We complement noteworthy prior efforts at synthesizing the goals of family firms by focusing on the theory-development elements behind research on this body of knowledge. Our findings are twofold: first, the goals of family firms are diverse and classified in dichotomous categories; second, the majority of studies integrate these goals based on a trade-off logic. We discuss contributions and suggestions for further research at the end of the paper.