The objective of financial reporting has mainly been discussed in the accounting literature with reference to the stewardship/accountability and decision-usefulness perspective. The latter objective is emphasised by standard setters, but the accounting literature argues for a stronger emphasis on the stewardship/accountability perspective. The discussion surrounding the objective is largely conducted with large public companies as a foundation. Thus, the thesis aims to explore the function of financial reporting in small private family businesses as they account for a large amount of the existing corporations. The study relies on a qualitative method with semi-structured interviews and a document study on the financial reports to fulfil the purpose of the study. The study shows that the function of financial reporting is revolved around evaluating firm performance and using the financial report as a communication tool to external users. The findings indicate tendencies of the decision-usefulness, but the stewardship/accountability objective is more apparent. Also, the concept of socioemotional wealth appears to be related to the stewardship/accountability objective and the function of financial reporting.

Background: The advancement and spread of digitalization is reshaping the commercial landscape for firms, executing proper and adequate digital transformations have therefore become a necessity in order to thrive in the digital era. Existing literature has indicated that the unique and distinctive characteristics that family businesses possess may shape the way such firms handle various change efforts. However, research of how family firms handle digital transformations is heavily undeveloped, where the non-financial aspects’ influence on such transformations has yet to be assessed. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how non-financial aspects could influence a digital transformation process in family businesses. By fulfilling this purpose, additional insights can be contributed and enable a more thorough understanding of how non-financial aspects influence digital transformations in a family business. Method: This qualitative and exploratory thesis, guided by an inductive approach, has utilized a multiple case study containing four different cases in order to generate more insights and create a better understanding regarding the topic at hand. Eleven semi-structured interviews have been conducted and a thematic analysis has served as guidance when interpreting and analyzing the data. Conclusion: The results of the research reveal that four non-financial aspects were identified through the multiple case study. However, merely three of the four non-financial aspects identified were found to influence digital transformations in family businesses, encompassing both advantages and challenges which consequently affect a digital transformation. Additionally, the results show that one of the non-financial aspects solely had a positive influence on digital transformations, while the other two had both a positive and negative influence.

Family businesses are generally considered to be the most prevalent form of business around the world. They have also been shown to differ from their non-family counterparts due the non-economic factors that influence their decision-making. One of the most widely used conceptualization of these factors concerns the controlling family’s socioemotional endowment or in other words, the family’s socioemotional wealth. Newer approaches have proposed that socioemotional wealth can not only be broken down into several component dimensions, but that these dimensions may shift in prioritization in response to different contingencies. The sudden spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and the global crisis that has followed in its wake is one such contingency, impacting economies and family firms virtually everywhere in the world. Studying the crisis’ effects on family firms has thus already been outlined as a major focus of research going forward. This paper aims to develop the concept of socioemotional wealth as a dynamic construct and study the crisis’ effects on family firms. We conduct a content analysis of 20 Swedish and 20 German publicly listed family firms’ statements to shareholders published over a three-year period coinciding with the emergence of the crisis. Thus, this research presents an empirical look at how family firms in the contexts of two differing governmental responses to the crisis prioritized the different dimensions of their socioemotional wealth. The results show the families’ emotional attachment coming to the forefront in both cases, with no significant difference between the two countries’ family firms. Furthermore, we observe the families’ socioemotional ties to their employees retain their pre-crisis prevalence as the most prioritized dimension. This is accompanied by a deepening of the quality of the communication tied to this dimension of socioemotional wealth with it coming to reflect the emerging solidarity and cultural changes resulting from the crisis. The results suggest that family firms may respond to a crisis on the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic through their decision-making being increasingly influenced by their emotional attachment to the firm, while also retaining a focus on preserving strong social ties to their employees to persevere through the difficult period.

Background: Family businesses contribute significantly to global economies but face unique challenges, notably in succession planning and generational transitions. These challenges are amplified due to the interplay of personal relationships, emotions, and family dynamics. Existing research offers quantitative insights into this field; however, the nuances of human experiences and perceptions in different cultural contexts remain underexplored. This study seeks to bridge this gap through qualitative exploration of family businesses' experiences and perceptions in Sweden and Canada, focusing on succession planning and generational transitions. The research aims to provide a more nuanced understanding, thus contributing to more effective, culturally sensitive, and practitioner-oriented strategies for managing intergenerational transfers. Purpose: This study delves into the complex process of succession in family businesses in Sweden and Canada. By emphasizing practitioners' lived experiences, it aims to identify prevalent patterns, contribute to the current literature, and potentially inform enhanced succession practices. Method: Applying an abductive research approach, the research combined hermeneutic and phenomenological methods, employing semi-structured interviews with nine family businesses six in Sweden and three in Canada as the primary data collection method. This approach allowed for a rich understanding of the phenomena. Conclusion: The research underscores the complexities of succession planning in family businesses, emphasizing the importance of open communication, trust, personal ties, and effective succession planning. Our findings diverge from a one-size-fits-all approach, revealing a multifaceted reality that requires a more adaptable, context-specific approach to succession planning. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of succession processes in family businesses, presenting valuable insights for future research, policy decisions, and practical business strategies.

The purpose of this study is to establish the psychometric five-dimension model proposed by Berrone, Cruz, & Gomez-Mejia (2012) with the objective of investigating the effect of SEW (Socioemotional Welath) in strategic choices made by family firms towards M&A decisions, specifically selling decisions. Studying SEW among different family firms and its implications on their M&A decisions will contribute to literature on SEW and M&A's involving family firms.

During 2021, mergers and acquisitions (also known as M&A) experienced record-breaking numbers. In line with there being an array of M&As having been realized, there also exist various and multiple reasons for the company owners to go through with the process - or to decline the offer. As such, the motives and reasoning steering the owner’s decision regarding offers from external actors constitute a fascinating research area. Thus, out of interest of the aforementioned, the aim of this study is to provide a deeper understanding of the motives driving the decision-making of family-owned business owners in times of external offers being put on the table. Undertaking this endeavor, the frameworks of Socioemotional Wealth Theory (SEW) and Agency Theory (Economic-Rational) constitute key theoretical concepts. More specifically, we ask: how does the family who owns the business value an external offer - and why do they reason the way they do? Conducting semi structured interviews with four owners of small family companies located in Småland, this thesis provides insights and interpretations generated by a qualitative research design and abductive data collection. The conclusion drawn is that motives differ greatly. More specifically, the evaluation of external offers is generally impacted by values and priorities associated with SEW. However, in connection to suboptimal change-of-generation possibilities, the economic-rational reasoning receives greater attention. Thus, recognizing the importance of change-of-generation, future research should explore this factor more extensively.

Background: This paper focuses on nature and role of relationships in small hospitality firm in the Southern Italian context. Based on previous literature relationships in small firms are highly related to trust, common understanding and mutual benefits.     Purpose: Aim of the paper is to explore how the role and nature of external stakeholders’ relationships creates perceived value with small family business by the theoretical framework developed by the authors. Methodology: To answer the research question an empirical research was conducted and data was collected through semi-structured interviews using guidelines inspired by previous studiesThrough a content analysis of data collected and reports from the local government. Participants in the sample consisted of native Italians, living in the Metropolitan city of Naples. Participants were grouped in five categories along with the family firm itself, external stakeholder groups as business partners, competitors, residents and local government representative members. Total of 14 interviews were conducted. The Data was coded using the software Nvivo. Results: The study suggest that relationships in the specific context of Hospitality in Southern Italy is based on personal level and have trust, respect and understanding as the fundamentals. The result also revealed that small family run B&B prefers family over non-family members. Tension and conflicts are then solved through understanding and trust. Conclusion: In brief this research contributes to the family businesses and stakeholder literature in the specific context of Italian hospitality industry. The theoretical framework has been updated by the emerging findings from the qualitative analysis.

Background/Problem: The financial crisis in 2008 affected the whole economy and the CEO's compensation was one of the factors causing this crisis. Although, it is now years after the onset of the financial crisis, the CEO’s compensation is still an ongoing topic of debate and, for this reason, vital to study. According to literature, non-family CEOs are more likely to emphasize financial performance rather than socioemotional objectives and returns. On the contrary, family CEOs are more motivated by socioemotional wealth and non-financial goals. Taking these viewpoints into consideration, this study examines how CEOs in family firms view and value compensation and rewards. Purpose: This study aims to explore how family CEOs view and value compensation and rewards, in comparison to non-family CEOs in family firms. Method: This study is conducted using a qualitative method and utilizing semi-structured interviews. Five family firms participate in this study and they comprise of 4 family CEOs and 1 non-family CEO. Conclusion: The findings of this study support the idea that family CEOs view and value compensation and rewards in other terms than just financial value. Moreover, the evidence points to that the non-family CEO is more connected to financial factors. Weighing together the evidence from this study there is a difference regarding how family CEOs and non-family CEOs view and value compensation and rewards. Additionally, based on this research, SEW exists within family firms. The findings in this study contribute to the current knowledge in designing compensation packages for CEOs in family firms. Moreover, this study is the first step towards enhancing our understanding of how CEOs view and value compensation and rewards.

Thesis advisor: Hans de Wit / The family ownership context has been investigated across many business settings, within the manufacturing, trade, and services industries. The consensus among scholars has been that families that own and operate firms act in self-serving ways and frame organizational problems and make decisions with the primary goal of satisfying the family’s affective needs, i.e., preserve or augment what is referred to as socioemotional wealth. However, the theoretical reasoning of socioemotional wealth theory may fall apart in traditional university settings, where self-serving behaviors may lead to (pronounced) agency conflict. Universities have been long understood for their politicized governance environs in which multiple stakeholder groups have representation in decision-making. Within this reality, families involved in higher education management may be challenged to act self-servingly and protect or enhance certain socioemotional wealth. They may need to act in altruistic ways to avoid agency conflict. I investigate whether this is the case through a single, critical case study approach conducted at one family-owned or -managed university in India. I rely on what Yin (2003) refers to as “rival explanation as patterns” to test socioemotional theory relative to a rival theoretical framework. I ask the important question of whether this rival theory can address the limitations of socioemotional wealth theory when applied to the higher education context. As expected, findings generally suggest that where socioemotional wealth theory fails to capture family decision-making behaviors, the rival theory is relevant. This finding is important to consider and has several implications to theory, practice, and future research. Importantly, the findings support that current family-owned business theorizing is not enough to capture family decision-making behaviors in the context of traditional university settings. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Background: Family firms represent the majority of firms worldwide, and are regarded as a crucial part of the global economy. Despite that, there is little known about their objectives of financial reporting i.e how they use, produce and value their financial reports. In accounting literature two objectives of financial reporting are presented, a stewardship objective and a decision usefulness objective. Previous research within family business have found that family firms differ from non-family firms and that family firms utilize socioemotional wealth protection as a main reference point when making decisions.  Purpose: This study aims to provide an understanding of how family firms perceive the objective of their financial reporting and how this is shaped by SEW. Method: The study was conducted using a qualitative method and implemented through semi-structured interviews. Nine family firms participated in the study, where eight family members were interviewed and two non-family members.  Conclusion: The result suggest that four out of the five FIBER dimensions (of SEW), family influence and control, identification of family members with the firm, binding social ties and emotional attachment influence the family firm's objective of their financial reports. Meanwhile, for the fifth dimension, renewal of family bonds to the firm through dynastic succession, our study suggests that future successions do not have an influence on the family firm's perceived objective of financial reporting.