Listed Family Firm Stakeholder Orientations: The Critical Role of Value-creating Family Factors. Issue 4 (December 2020) - Heino, Noora
Highlights: Positive family-related factors contribute to the value creation in listed family firm stakeholder relations. Value-creating family factors are a source of sustained competitive advantage in listed companies. To avoid institutionalized, homogeneous views and overgeneralizations, recognizing firm and ownership heterogeneity is vital. Listed company form serves as a context that diminishes or eliminates the negative factors associated with family ownership. Abstract: Many studies have established that listed family firms differ from both, their non-family counterparts as well as from private family firms. However, there is a lack of research that provides a comprehensive picture on how and what kinds of family-related factors affect stakeholder orientations and relations in listed family companies. In order to capture the impact of family ownership, control, and management in this context, we engage a qualitative inductive study and give voice to representatives of 16 Finnish listed family firms of varying size and industry. Our study contributes to the still nascent literature on listed family firm stakeholder orientations and relations and provides academics and practitioners with evidence to understand critical factors affecting listed family firm decision-making and behavior. Implications for future research and practice are also discussed.