Studies investigating consumer responses
| Study | Methodology | Sample | IV | DV | Key finding |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carrigan and Buckley (2008) | Interviews | Consumers from the UK and Ireland | – | – | Consumers have a positive perception of family business (FB). Being a FB can be important for consumers’ purchase behavior |
| Orth and Green (2009) | Experiment; critical incident technique | Consumers from the USA | Family-owned vs national chain grocery store | Loyalty | Consumers do not have greater loyalty toward family-owned grocery stores |
| Binz et al. (2013) | Survey | Consumers from Switzerland | Firm reputation | Preference | Consumer prefer products and services of FB (vs publicly-owned) mainly because of relational qualities |
| Presas et al. (2014) | Focus groups | Consumers from Europe and America | Customers of tourism experience link FB to getting in touch with the owning family and perceive “authenticity” and “slow travel” values | ||
| Sageder et al. (2015) | Survey | Consumers from Austria | Family ownership (revealed vs concealed) | Reputation, customer loyalty, purchase frequency and word-of-mouth recommendation | Consumers rather tend to recommend businesses known to be family-owned. Overall reputation, customer orientation, social and environmental responsibility and employer qualities were rated higher for the FB (vs listed firm). Reputational factors positively correlate with purchase frequency and word-of-mouth recommendations to friends |
| Beck and Kenning (2015) | Survey | Consumers from Germany | Family firm image | New product acceptance | A reputation as FB positively influences perceived trustworthiness which, in turn, positively influences new product acceptance. Higher uncertainty about a product increases the positive effects |
| Lude and Prügl (2018) | Experiment | Consumers from Germany, Switzerland and Austria | Family firm cue vs no cue | Purchase intention; choice | Including a FB cue enhances purchase intention via higher authenticity and brand trust |
| Beck and Prügl (2018) | Survey; experiment; focus groups | Consumers from Germany | Family firm reputation; “Family company” vs “Company” | Purchase intention | Describing a company as a FB increases purchase intention via humanization and brand trust |
| Schellong et al. (2019) | Experiment | Consumers from Germany | Family-influenced brand vs a nonfamily-influenced brand | Consumer happiness | Communicating FB status might have a positive indirect effect on consumers’ happiness through perceptions of doing good |
| Dos‐Santos et al. (2019) | Eye tracking | Consumers from Chile | Family firm website vs nonfamily firm website | Attitude toward the website | Communicating FB positively influences attitude toward the website which, in turn, positively influences purchase intention |
| Zanon et al. (2019) | Experiment | Consumers from Germany | Family firm cue vs no cue | Social media engagement | FB image promotion (vs no promotion) increases perceived brand authenticity and this, in turn, is associated with a higher level of customer-company-identification, which eventually translates into increased intention to engage in social media |
| Dos Santos et al. (2020) | Experiment | Consumers from Chile and Spain | Family firm cue vs no cue | Purchase intention | Communicating FB increases brand trust and purchase intention. Trust and purchase intention are higher for country of origin products |
| Methodology | Sample | IV | DV | Key finding | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interviews | Consumers from the UK and Ireland | – | – | Consumers have a positive perception of family business (FB). Being a FB can be important for consumers’ purchase behavior | |
| Experiment; critical incident technique | Consumers from the USA | Family-owned vs national chain grocery store | Loyalty | Consumers do not have greater loyalty toward family-owned grocery stores | |
| Survey | Consumers from Switzerland | Firm reputation | Preference | Consumer prefer products and services of FB (vs publicly-owned) mainly because of relational qualities | |
| Focus groups | Consumers from Europe and America | Customers of tourism experience link FB to getting in touch with the owning family and perceive “authenticity” and “slow travel” values | |||
| Survey | Consumers from Austria | Family ownership (revealed vs concealed) | Reputation, customer loyalty, purchase frequency and word-of-mouth recommendation | Consumers rather tend to recommend businesses known to be family-owned. Overall reputation, customer orientation, social and environmental responsibility and employer qualities were rated higher for the FB (vs listed firm). Reputational factors positively correlate with purchase frequency and word-of-mouth recommendations to friends | |
| Survey | Consumers from Germany | Family firm image | New product acceptance | A reputation as FB positively influences perceived trustworthiness which, in turn, positively influences new product acceptance. Higher uncertainty about a product increases the positive effects | |
| Experiment | Consumers from Germany, Switzerland and Austria | Family firm cue vs no cue | Purchase intention; choice | Including a FB cue enhances purchase intention via higher authenticity and brand trust | |
| Survey; experiment; focus groups | Consumers from Germany | Family firm reputation; “Family company” vs “Company” | Purchase intention | Describing a company as a FB increases purchase intention via humanization and brand trust | |
| Experiment | Consumers from Germany | Family-influenced brand vs a nonfamily-influenced brand | Consumer happiness | Communicating FB status might have a positive indirect effect on consumers’ happiness through perceptions of doing good | |
| Eye tracking | Consumers from Chile | Family firm website vs nonfamily firm website | Attitude toward the website | Communicating FB positively influences attitude toward the website which, in turn, positively influences purchase intention | |
| Experiment | Consumers from Germany | Family firm cue vs no cue | Social media engagement | FB image promotion (vs no promotion) increases perceived brand authenticity and this, in turn, is associated with a higher level of customer-company-identification, which eventually translates into increased intention to engage in social media | |
| Experiment | Consumers from Chile and Spain | Family firm cue vs no cue | Purchase intention | Communicating FB increases brand trust and purchase intention. Trust and purchase intention are higher for country of origin products |
Notes:
This table aims to provide an overview about important empirical studies on consumer perceptions of FB. I acknowledge that additional studies may exist that mention associations toward family businesses. Those studies, however, often focus on anecdotal evidence or on an internal or a general rather than on an external consumer perspective
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