Non-family CEOs in family firms: Spotting gaps and challenging assumptions for a future research agenda

Matthias Waldkirch

Journal of Family Business Strategy, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1

Abstract: As the field of family business matures, research increasingly focuses on actors outside the owner family. The most important non-family member a family firm can hire is arguably a non-family CEO. Given the limited pool of family members, family firms regularly hire such actors, yet, our knowledge of them is fragmented. Using a multidisciplinary systematic literature review, this article collects, organizes and structures current knowledge on non-family CEOs in family firms. The article proposes a research agenda by engaging in ‘gap-spotting’ and ‘assumption-challenging’, first outlining gaps in the existing literatures and proposing research questions to fill them, then identifying and problematizing three underlying assumptions in the literature. Finally, the article develops alternative assumptions to stimulate new research about non-family CEOs.

Keywords: Non-family chief executive officer (CEO); Family firms; Literature review; Professionalization; Gap-spotting; Challenging assumptions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (21)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:fambus:v:11:y:2020:i:1:s1877858517301663

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DOI: 10.1016/j.jfbs.2019.100305

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