Call for Papers: Social Issues in the Family Enterprise

Call for Papers
Family Business Review – Special Issue
September 2014

Social Issues in the Family Enterprise

Guest Editors:

Justin Craig, Northeastern University (j.craig@neu.edu)
Clay Dibrell, The University of Mississippi (cdibrell@bus.olemiss.edu), USA

Don Neubaum, Oregon State University (don.neubaum@bus.oregonstate.edu), USA
Anita Van Gils, Maastricht University (a.vangils@maastrichtuniversity.nl), The Netherlands

Launched in 1988, Family Business Review is an interdisciplinary scholarly forum publishing conceptual, theoretical and empirical research that aims to advance the understanding of family enterprise around the world.

Much attention is now focused on societal concerns like global warming and the persistence of corporate misconduct. Researchers and practitioners alike have grown increasingly interested in social issues, such as corporate social responsibility, environmental stewardship, triple bottom line accounting, and social entrepreneurship.  Friedman’s credo of “The business of business is business” is growing less acceptable as owners, managers, employees, policy makers and the public at large are becoming increasingly uneasy with businesses pure profit motive.  Today, society challenges businesses to not only provide low-cost, high-quality sustainable products and services in an ethical and socially responsible manner, but also to help solve some of the globe’s most pressing social problems (e.g., hunger, lack of adequate healthcare, and poverty). Family enterprises need to be genuinely aware of social concerns in order to survive.

Research in social issues and corporate social responsibility has frequently examined the relationships between governance and ownership structure and the social outcomes of organizations.  While research related to stakeholder management, corporate social responsibility, philanthropy, and social issues has been widely conducted, relatively little of this research has been done within family firms.  Given that family enterprises reflect unique ownership and governance structures, and often possess unique goals and objectives (e.g., legacy building, transmission of intergenerational wealth, providing employment to family members), we believe they represent an interesting and timely context in which to study social issues.

We invite papers that give serious consideration to the topic of social issues in the family enterprise. We are particularly interested in articles that address fundamental questions such as, “What affect do family firms’ goals and ownership/governance structures have on those organizations’ behavior concerning social issues?” “Do family enterprises manage their internal and external stakeholders differently than publicly and/or privately held organizations?” “What theories are most applicable (e.g., stewardship theory, stakeholder theory, institutional theory, etc.)?” and “Do family enterprises have a higher appreciation for social issues than their public/and or private counterparts?”

Family Business Review invites authors to submit manuscripts for a special issue on Social Issues in the Family Enterprise. We welcome a wide range of articles dealing with important issues related to social responsibility, social issues, environmental sustainability and social entrepreneurship.  Empirical research using qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods is encouraged. While case studies that are theoretically and empirically grounded are welcomed, preference will be given to articles which test theory using a broad base of family enterprises. We will also consider conceptual papers and develop innovative contributions which improve our understanding of the topic. Thus, we are looking for papers that contribute to the creation of a solid evidence base concerning the interplay between social issue management and family enterprises. Potential topics of interest include but are not limited to the following:

• The attitude of external/financial stakeholders to internal/family constituents.
• Influence of taxation on giving patterns of family enterprises.
• Family foundations as stewards of wealth.
• Family enterprises and social entrepreneurship
• The influence of cultural and religious beliefs/differences in social issues.
• The influence of gender in the leadership, selection, and engagement of social issues.
• The influence of national culture on the management of social issues
• The influence of generational involvement in social issues.
• The influence of entrepreneurial traits, attitudes and cognitive models on social issues.
• Giving habits/behaviors of publicly-traded family businesses
• Socially progressive employment patterns and social innovation in human resource practices in family versus non-family enterprises.
• Family enterprise philosophy toward social issues as a human resource management practice.
• Triple Bottom Line of people, planet, and profit.
• Family versus enterprise conflicts related to social wealth creation.
• Family enterprises motives to engage in philanthropy or social entrepreneurial behaviors.
• Strategic decision making for developing and implementing social goals in family enterprises

Submission Process: Manuscripts must be submitted through the Family Business Review web site (http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/fbr) indicating “Special Issue – Social Issues” as the manuscript type.

FBR Submission Guidelines: FBR is open to many different formats and styles of presentation. Manuscripts should not be more than 35 typed double spaced pages, all inclusive, using 12-point Times New Roman font and one inch margins. All documents submitted should be Microsoft Word files. Please remember to use APA guidelines.

Deadline: Manuscripts must be submitted by May 31, 2013. The Special Issue will be published in Sept. 2014.

Papers will undergo double-blind, developmental reviews by a special review board tailored to this Special Issue. Final acceptance of approved papers will be contingent on incorporating reviewers’ feedback to the satisfaction of the editors.