Literature reviews about family business are increasing due to their usefulness in analysing the existing research and proposing new directions. A literature review is a helpful way of condensing the studies on a topic into particular themes. Traditional forms of literature reviews have tended to be in essay format and in different formats. This has enabled individualistic preferences to appear in the articles based on the personality of the writers. Recently there has been a surge in formalistic and structured literature reviews that have a specific format. Whilst this is useful in understanding the methodology behind the literature review, there are many different ways to do literature reviews.
There is a need to continually analyse the literature on a topic. Mostly this is done in an ad-hoc way without any specific type of planning. This is to be expected due to new knowledge being produced on a range of topics and in different formats. Literature is written about in scientific formats but also discussed in the media. This makes it important to take both an academic and practical view to finding new knowledge. In addition, YouTube talks and website contents such as podcasts offer another way to obtain knowledge. Thus, to build knowledge on a topic staying current with research is crucial for competitive reasons.
The field of family business management is interdisciplinary and bridges many different areas. It is accelerating at high speed due to interest globally in family business. A literature review is broadly defined as a systematic way of analysing research on a topic. It synthesises existing knowledge and identifies main trends. It is an effective way of collecting different perspectives and viewpoints on a topic. A literature review can uncover the most popular methodologies and researchers on a topic. This helps to understand the current theories being used.
Recently there has been a change in the wording used to describe a literature review from a general review to a systematic literature review. The goal of a general literature review is to integrate the existing knowledge by critiquing it. It is normally not done in a specific way but offers a classification of the current literature. All types of research including articles, books, reports and other sources are included in order to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the topic. In contrast, a systematic literature review takes a more quantitative approach by introducing numbers and statistics to the review. This is different to general literature reviews that are qualitative in terms of discussing in words the literature. Systematic literature reviews normally follow a specific approach that has been suggested in previous research. This enables them to compare previous literature reviews at different timepoints and by different authors with their own review. They can be written for specific family business journals or for methodology journals that specialises in literature reviews.
In conclusion, literature reviews are to be viewed in a good way in family business research. They offer a quick way to glance at the existing knowledge by providing a summary. This enables new ideas to be incorporated into future research and practice. Thereby helping to advance the literature but at the same time contribute to societal well-being.
