Table 1 Studies investigating consumer...

Table 1

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

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

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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