The leading role of the top management team in understanding family firms: Past research and future directions

Family firms are often lead by top management teams (upper echelons). Indeed, top management teams (TMTs) are a key determinant of the distinctiveness and heterogeneity of firms. Unfortunately, existing research on the role of the TMT in family firms remains fragmented. Using insights from upper echelons theory, this article systematically reviews and organizes the fragmented findings and arguments from prior research along three blocks: antecedents, processes, and outcomes of TMTs in family firms. In doing so, the article provides a summary of the current state-of-the-art of the literature and proposes a research agenda to open the TMT “black box” to examine TMT characteristics at the individual (demographics) and group level (dynamics and emotions) and determine their impact on family firm outcomes (entrepreneurial orientation, strategic choices, and performance) through future research efforts.