Exploring the relation between family involvement and firms' financial performance: A meta-analysis of main and moderator effects

Abstract

The present work summarizes the theoretical foundations and empirical findings regarding the relation between family involvement and firm performance. From a theory-based perspective we integrate evolutionary psychology and agency theory and describe how conflicting predictions can be made regarding the relation between family involvement and firm performance. Similarly, we describe how the empirical landscape is equally conflicted. Findings from this meta-analysis summarize the observed effects from multiple studies and provide an estimate of the relation across the entire population. Results illustrated that family involvement did not significantly impact firms' financial performance (r = .006). Based on these data, there is no relation between family involvement and a firm's financial performance. Furthermore, we examined multiple conceptual and methodologically-based potential moderating influences—none was statistically significant. Overall, these findings provide the foundation for multiple new areas of inquiry as the domain of family business studies evolves. Moving forward, we advise future research in this area to search for additional moderator effects and explore the defining characteristics, other than performance, that make family businesses distinct from non-family businesses.