Knowledge management in family business succession: current trends and future directions

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to review the literature on knowledge management in the family business, addressing the research question as follows: “How is knowledge managed across generations in the family business?” This study synthesizes the literature, highlighting the role of multiple stakeholders who affect knowledge management along with the phases of the succession process. Stemming from these findings and embracing a practice-based view, this paper offers research directions to guide future contributions on knowledge construction in the family business. The purpose of this study is not only to conclude the previous research but also to provide insights for future research directions and to provide practical implications. Design/methodology/approach Through a systematic integrative literature review, this paper collects map and analytically examine 63 published peer-reviewed articles related to knowledge management in the family business from 39 academic journals. This paper applies a rigorous approach to identify the sample of articles, map descriptive information of the reviewed literature and map theoretical contributions according to a multi-stakeholder and multi-stage framework. Findings The sampled articles are analyzed according to a multi-stakeholder and multi-stage framework inspired by Daspit et al. (2016). This study identifies critical gaps emerging from the analysis, thus opening the way to future research directions. In particular, this paper prompts scholars to advance the understanding of family-related knowledge and to clarify the assumptions on knowledge in their research. Research limitations/implications This paper contributes to the debate on knowledge management in the family business, by systematizing the current literature. In addition, this study embraces a “knowledge from practice perspective” and offers research directions to guide future contributions on knowledge construction in family business succession and potential areas to further management research investigating the role of family-related knowledge. Practical implications are also provided to benefit family businesses, consultants and policymakers. Originality/value This study provides a systematic integrative literature review of the articles published on knowledge management in family business according to a multi-stakeholder and multi-stage framework. Moreover, it draws an agenda for future research advancing a “knowledge from a practice perspective” in the family business literature.

Guest editorial

“…Finally, knowledge sharing can also play a key role in the succession process (Cabrera-Suárez et al , 2001). In this sense, recent research does not only find that knowledge sharing has to be carried out long before the succession process takes place, but also that the knowledge-sharing process between the incumbent and the successor is usually gradual (Ge and Campopiano, 2021). Moreover, knowledge types for a successful succession entail technical knowledge, organizational knowledge and cognitive knowledge (Sambrook, 2005), rendering tacit knowledge sharing a relevant requisite for succession continuity between the incumbent and the successor (Matser et al , 2011).…”

“…Ge and Campopiano (2021) focus on the role of multiple stakeholders who influence KM along the different phases of the succession process, addressing specifically the question of how knowledge is managed across generations in family businesses. Specifically, through a systematic integrative literature review, the authors analyze 63 papers published in high standard journals and identify critical gaps in the KM of different phases of the succession process.…”

Knowledge integration in family firms: Understanding the nexus between familiness and organizational effectiveness

“…We also use 'SPSS Bootstrap Confidence Intervals' (PROCESS), as suggested by Hayes (2018). Then we apply the "Indirect Effects" plugin from SPSS Amos (Gaskin and Lim, 2018). All results suggest the existence of indirect effects (Table 6).…”

Sharing Knowledge Across Generations and Its Impact on Innovation

“…Grant (1996) referred to knowledge as "knowing how with tacit knowledge, and knowing about facts and theories with explicit knowledge," which are distinguished through knowledge transferability and mechanisms for transfer across individuals, space, and time (p. 111, emphasis in original). Knowledge management -especially the transferability of knowledge through knowledge sharing -has significance for understanding family business succession (Ge & Campopiano, 2021), wherein the emphasis is typically on employing the knowledge management perspective to explain the ability for the incumbent SG to pass on tacit, experience-related family business knowledge to the NG. This transfer of knowledge is considered essential for the successful handing over of leadership from one generation to the next (Cabrera-Suárez et al, 2001).…”

“…New knowledge is created through the interplay between these two forms of knowledge. While the SECI model has been utilized across numerous disciplines (Karim et al, 2012;Lievre & Tang, 2015;Richtnér et al, 2014;Trigo, 2013) and has been used in forming arguments where knowledge creation is a central feature (Hatak & Roessl, 2015), it is less used in family business research (Ge & Campopiano, 2021). According to the SECI model, new knowledge is generated from the interplay between tacit and explicit knowledge.…”