IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jfnres/v47y2024i1p27-60.html

The impact of labor on the performance of founder‐family firms

Author

Listed:
  • Murali Jagannathan
  • Brett W. Myers
  • Xu Niu

Abstract

Firms managed by the scions of founders continue to be prevalent in the United States despite the increase in shareholder activism over the last few decades, calling into question the argument that such organizational structures reduce firm value. Founder‐family successions are rare in high‐growth industries where the benefits of selecting from a larger pool of managers is significant. Rather, they tend to happen in low‐growth industries, in manufacturing/retail firms. Once we account for the differences in firm characteristics, we do not find that founder‐family successions reduce firm value. We explore a mechanism that compensates for the costs of choosing from a smaller pool of managers and document evidence consistent with family firms benefiting from improved labor relations.

Suggested Citation

  • Murali Jagannathan & Brett W. Myers & Xu Niu, 2024. "The impact of labor on the performance of founder‐family firms," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 47(1), pages 27-60, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jfnres:v:47:y:2024:i:1:p:27-60
    DOI: 10.1111/jfir.12353
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jfir.12353
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jfir.12353?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marianne Bertrand & Antoinette Schoar, 2006. "The Role of Family in Family Firms," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 73-96, Spring.
    2. Joshua D. Angrist & Alan B. Krueger, 2001. "Instrumental Variables and the Search for Identification: From Supply and Demand to Natural Experiments," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 69-85, Fall.
    3. Sergei A. Davydenko & Ilya A. Strebulaev, 2007. "Strategic Actions and Credit Spreads: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(6), pages 2633-2671, December.
    4. Fahlenbrach, Rüdiger, 2009. "Founder-CEOs, Investment Decisions, and Stock Market Performance," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(2), pages 439-466, April.
    5. repec:bla:jfinan:v:58:y:2003:i:3:p:1301-1327 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Bertrand, Marianne & Johnson, Simon & Samphantharak, Krislert & Schoar, Antoinette, 2008. "Mixing family with business: A study of Thai business groups and the families behind them," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(3), pages 466-498, June.
    7. Joshua Angrist & Alan Krueger, 2001. "Instrumental Variables and the Search for Identification: From Supply and Demand to Natural Experiments," Working Papers 834, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    8. Villalonga, Belen & Amit, Raphael, 2006. "How do family ownership, control and management affect firm value?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 385-417, May.
    9. Karl V. Lins & Paolo Volpin & Hannes F. Wagner, 2013. "Does Family Control Matter? International Evidence from the 2008--2009 Financial Crisis," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(10), pages 2583-2619.
    10. Klasa, Sandy, 2007. "Why Do Controlling Families of Public Firms Sell Their Remaining Ownership Stake?," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 42(2), pages 339-367, June.
    11. Anderson, Ronald C. & Duru, Augustine & Reeb, David M., 2009. "Founders, heirs, and corporate opacity in the United States," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 205-222, May.
    12. Holger M. Mueller & Thomas Philippon, 2011. "Family Firms and Labor Relations," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 218-245, April.
    13. Mario Daniele Amore & Morten Bennedsen & Isabelle Le Breton‐Miller & Danny Miller, 2021. "Back to the future: The effect of returning family successions on firm performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(8), pages 1432-1458, August.
    14. Margarita Tsoutsoura, 2015. "The Effect of Succession Taxes on Family Firm Investment: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(2), pages 649-688, April.
    15. Brett W. Myers & Alessio Saretto, 2016. "Does Capital Structure Affect the Behavior of Nonfinancial Stakeholders? An Empirical Investigation into Leverage and Union Strikes," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(11), pages 3235-3253, November.
    16. Anderson, Ronald C. & Mansi, Sattar A. & Reeb, David M., 2003. "Founding family ownership and the agency cost of debt," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 263-285, May.
    17. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
    18. Lemmon, Michael & Roberts, Michael R., 2010. "The Response of Corporate Financing and Investment to Changes in the Supply of Credit," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(3), pages 555-587, June.
    19. Morten Bennedsen & Kasper Meisner Nielsen & Francisco Perez-Gonzalez & Daniel Wolfenzon, 2007. "Inside the Family Firm: The Role of Families in Succession Decisions and Performance," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(2), pages 647-691.
    20. Belén Villalonga & Raphael Amit, 2010. "Family Control of Firms and Industries," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 39(3), pages 863-904, September.
    21. Mullins, William & Schoar, Antoinette, 2016. "How do CEOs see their roles? Management philosophies and styles in family and non-family firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(1), pages 24-43.
    22. Randall Morck & David Stangeland & Bernard Yeung, 2000. "Inherited Wealth, Corporate Control, and Economic Growth The Canadian Disease?," NBER Chapters, in: Concentrated Corporate Ownership, pages 319-372, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    23. Adams, Renée & Almeida, Heitor & Ferreira, Daniel, 2009. "Understanding the relationship between founder-CEOs and firm performance," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 136-150, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. William Mullins & Antoinette Schoar, 2013. "How do CEOs see their Role? Management Philosophy and Styles in Family and Non-Family Firms," NBER Working Papers 19395, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Jagannathan, Murali & Myers, Brett W. & Niu, Xu, 2025. "Trust in Founders," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    3. González, Maximiliano & Guzmán, Alexander & Pombo, Carlos & Trujillo, María-Andrea, 2012. "Family firms and financial performance: The cost of growing," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 626-649.
    4. Xie, Jian & Yuan, Song, 2025. "The cultural origins of family firms," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 1-24.
    5. Breuer, Wolfgang & Knetsch, Andreas, 2022. "Informal authority and economic outcomes of family firms: An issue of national power distance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    6. Andrea Bassanini & Thomas Breda & Eve Caroli & Antoine Rebérioux, 2010. "Working in family firms: less paid but more secure? Evidence from French matched employer-employee data," Working Papers halshs-00564972, HAL.
    7. Yeh, Yin-Hua, 2019. "Corporate governance and family succession: New evidence from Taiwan," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    8. Mario Daniele Amore & Danny Miller, 2025. "The role of culture in family firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 64(2), pages 261-278, February.
    9. Eugster, Nicolas & Isakov, Dušan, 2019. "Founding family ownership, stock market returns, and agency problems," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 1-1.
    10. Magda Bianco & Maria Bontempi & Roberto Golinelli & Giuseppe Parigi, 2013. "Family firms’ investments, uncertainty and opacity," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 1035-1058, May.
    11. Mullins, William & Schoar, Antoinette, 2016. "How do CEOs see their roles? Management philosophies and styles in family and non-family firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(1), pages 24-43.
    12. Yeh, Yin-Hua & Liao, Chen-Chieh, 2021. "The impact of market and industry risk on family succession," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    13. Sea-Jin Chang & Jungwook Shim, 2015. "When does transitioning from family to professional management improve firm performance?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(9), pages 1297-1316, September.
    14. Pindado, Julio & Requejo, Ignacio & de la Torre, Chabela, 2014. "Family control, expropriation, and investor protection: A panel data analysis of Western European corporations," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 58-74.
    15. Jun-Koo Kang & Jungmin Kim, 2020. "Do Family Firms Invest More than Nonfamily Firms in Employee-Friendly Policies?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(3), pages 1300-1324, March.
    16. Bennedsen, Morten & Mehrotra, Vikas & Shim, Jungwook & Wiwattanakantang, Yupana, 2020. "Dynastic Control without Ownership: Evidence from Post-war Japan," CEPR Discussion Papers 15398, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. Stewart, Alex, 2020. "Family control, ambivalence, and preferential benefits," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 11(4).
    18. Amore, Mario Daniele & Murtinu, Samuele & Pelucco, Valerio, 2025. "Family firms in entrepreneurial finance: The case of corporate venture capital," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    19. Andrew Ellul & Marco Pagano & Fausto Panunzi, 2010. "Inheritance Law and Investment in Family Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(5), pages 2414-2450, December.
    20. Amore, Mario Daniele & Minichilli, Alessandro & Corbetta, Guido, 2011. "How do managerial successions shape corporate financial policies in family firms?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 1016-1027, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jfnres:v:47:y:2024:i:1:p:27-60. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sfaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.