Emotions in family firms’ internationalisation: a review and suggestions for future research

Purpose
We reflect on, and extend, contributions in the family firm (FF) internationalisation area by integrating and synthesising studies from the literature streams of FF internationalisation, marketing, and family firms science in an effort to conceptualise how and why emotions emerge; and can drive FFs’ internationalisation choices. We also propose a way forward for future research on FF internationalisation from an emotional standpoint.

Design/methodology/approach
In this study we aim (1) to understand how and why emotions emerge during internationalisation and (2) to identify where future research on FF internationalisation from an emotional standpoint should be directed to. To do so, we follow the intergrative literature review methodology and analyse 53 peer-reviewed journal articles.

Findings
Our main contribution lies in the development of an integrative framework on the emergence of emotions in FFs. Moreover, considering the heterogeneity of families that own and manage FFs, we capture nuances in our developed framework across different FF types through a series of propositions and suggest a family systems approach for further exploration into the role of emotions in FF internationalisation processes.

Originality/value
Our study advances FF internationalisation research by tying existing key emotional concepts, and levels of analysis together (individual and family), thus enabling theory building. We also identify scantly investigated but relevant areas of research and capture nuances in our developed framework across different FF types through a series of propositions. Hence, our study advances FF internationalisation research by proposing that future research on FF internationalisation from an emotional standpoint should consider heterogeneity among FFs to avoid conflicting and misleading future findings.