In the global economy, the international strategies of family firms, influenced by family ownership and management, remain underexplored. Bridging the family business and international business fields, we use the socioemotional wealth lens to examine 1,236 international expansions from 2007 to 2013. Categorizing firms into pure family, nearly pure family, borderline family, and non-family typologies, we assess the influence of internal (experience, knowledge) and external (country risk) factors on their entry modes. Results indicate that higher family involvement in ownership/management increases the preference for greenfield investments over acquisitions or equity alliances, a relationship further moderated by international experience and country risk. This study provides nuanced insights into the international behaviors of family firms.

Built upon the mixed gamble perspective, we used a recent survey on Chinese family firms (FFs) and found that increased family influence lowers Chinese FF environmental proactiveness, as they show a peculiar tendency to take a financial view rather than a socioemotional wealth view. Moreover, we found that increased resource endowment attenuates this tendency, whereas provincial marketization strengthens it. However, entrepreneur reputation does not have a significant moderating effect. Overall, the study enriches an understanding of environmental proactiveness for FFs, organizational heterogeneity, and institutional differences. It also introduces new elements into the mixed gamble framework.

Since 2012, a large-scale Party branches building campaign intending to regain political influence in the private sector has been sweepingly promoted. Drawing on the Chinese Private Enterprise Survey conducted in 2008, 2012, and 2018, this study investigates private enterprises’ strategies in response to the intensified political pressure by integrating socioemotional wealth theory and neo-institutional theory. It is found that (1) private enterprises with high family ownership tend not to establish Party branches until political pressure is very high; (2) enterprises with high family ownership are more likely to adopt a decoupling strategy of evading the Party's political and social goals; and (3) the owners’ perceptions of a better market and legal environment weaken the negative effect of family ownership on the establishment of Party branches. These results reveal the key logic of preserving the socioemotional wealth and ‘embedded agency’ of Chinese private enterprises when they confront institutional legitimacy mandates. This study also sheds new light on the causes of the decoupling phenomenon and the dynamic interactions between institutional environment and organizational behaviors.

Firms managed by women present some differences in organizational conditions in terms of type of business and manager profile. The aim of this study is to check if those differences persist in family firms where the presence of female managers is higher, especially in second or subsequent generation family firms, than in non-family firms. The results reveal that family firms run by women are not smaller, but are concentrated in the services sector like non-family firms. Regarding the manager profile there are no differences either in the level of training or the age of female managers. They possess, however, less management experience but only in first generation family firms. In sum, gender differences in the type of business and in the manager profile found in the management literature disappear in family firms, only a sectoral gender effect persists.

Drawing on expectancy theory and the socioemotional wealth (SEW) perspective, we propose that family owners with intrafamily succession intention are more motivated to accumulate or preserve SEW. As corporate philanthropy is a critical way for family-controlled firms to accumulate or maintain SEW, family owners with intrafamily succession intention are more likely to engage in corporate philanthropic activities. Data on a nationally representative sample of family-controlled firms in China support our prediction. We also find that the relationship between intrafamily succession intention and corporate philanthropy is moderated by family owners’ social status and religiosity. The findings contribute to our understanding about family businesses, in general, and those in China, in particular, as well as the SEW perspective.