The present study examines the adoption of high-performance work practices (HPWPs) in family versus non-family firms, and evaluates the effect of such practices on the retention of valuable employees in light of different family contingencies. The analysis is carried out on a sample of 232 companies with more than 10 and less than 250 employees, operating in Austria and Hungary. The results indicate that the relational mechanisms originating from the family social capital may act as substitutes of formal practices aimed at fostering employee involvement and commitment and that those mechanisms depend on the extent family involvement in the governance of the business. © 2016 The Authors

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explain how managers incorporate long-term thinking in their decision-making processes as an antipode to a widely criticized managerial short-termism. For this purpose, the authors present a model of the influence of institutional, cultural and individual temporal factors on managerial long-term orientation (LTO). Design/methodology/approach This conceptual paper is based on a multidisciplinary review of the literature on the causes of managerial LTO. Findings It is proposed that managerial LTO is influenced by cultural and institutional factors on both a societal and an organizational level, as well as by managers’ individual temporal predispositions and the strengths of relational commitments with different stakeholder groups. It is further expected that managerial LTO has an influence on sustainability-related managerial behavior. Practical implications As the presented model reveals the main factors that orient managers toward the long run in their decisions, it can also be used as a framework to evaluate policies to curb managerial myopia on both an organizational and a societal level. Social implications As sustainability is intrinsically linked with the ability to think and act in the long term, understanding the factors that influence managerial LTO can also contribute to building more sustainable organizations. Originality/value One of the main contributions of this paper is that it highlights the link between reciprocal relationships and LTO, an aspect that has not yet been the focus of the literature on the temporal orientation of managers.

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We use a multiple case study approach to investigate “entrepreneurial leaps,” transition phases between dynamic states in which entrepreneurial action focused on reconfiguring key elements of the business model allows a firm to tap into new pools of resources through accessing and exploiting new market. Based on an analysis of 24 cases from three European countries, we derive a general process model of entrepreneurial leaps and identify four different patterns of how these transitions typically unfolds. The combination of dynamic states and entrepreneurial leaps can be used as a general framework for explaining nonlinear growth processes in firms.