The role of generations in family firms’ internationalization: Systematic literature review

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to summarize the existing knowledge on the role of generations in the internationalization of family businesses and to outline promising future research directions in the field. The search for relevant papers was conducted in two major databases — Web of Science and EBSCO. The final sample consists of 51 articles published from 2000 to 2021. The articles were grouped into 5 major clusters, according to the research focus. Every cluster revealed several further research directions. Also there has been found an important research gap in the application of the theory of generations to the family business internationalization research. The main implication of this research is that the investigation of the topics identified in this paper would enrich and deepen our knowledge about family business internationalization in a systematic manner.The main limitation of this research is that the role of generations is considered only in the process of internationalization. Family business owners can use the results of this research when planning to launch their businesses on international markets. The process of internationalization of family firms is complex and multifaceted since these firms are unique and significantly differ from non-family firms. Thus, the understanding of how this process is influenced by the involvement of family members from different generations would help to advance the existing knowledge on the topic.