FAMILY OWNERSHIP AND M&AS: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF THE LAST TWO DECADES

Strategic decision-making in family firms tends to prioritize the maintenance of family control and long-term investments relative to short-term opportunities. At the same time, however, family firms usually demonstrate a low appetite for risk. In view of its multifaceted and contradictory value as a means for corporate growth and as a driver of corporate risk, mergers and acquisitions (M&As) have been at the core of multiple scholarly conversations on family firms. This study offers a systematic literature review of the last two decades of academic studies on M&As in the context of family firms.


INTRODUCTION
The peculiar characteristics of family firms in terms of socio-emotional wealth preservation and maintenance of family control (Worek, De Massis, Wright, & Veider, 2018) have implications on corporate expansion decisions such as mergers and acquisitions. Extensive academic contributions have been produced on acquisition choices and performance in family firms, with a resulting fragmentation of extant literature. This research, therefore, aims at systematizing our knowledge on corporate acquisitions by family firms.
ABI/Inform Complete and Science Direct/Scopus were used as sources for the selection of articles. Articles were selected based on the following keywords in either the title or the abstract: "family business", "family firm", "family own*" and "family enterprise", combined with "M&A", "acquisition", "merger and acquisition". Only journal papers were selected, thus excluding books, book chapters, and conference papers. Articles for which the full text was not available were excluded. By carefully scrutinizing the abstracts, a final sample of 30 journal papers published in the 2000-2021 period was analyzed.

THEMATIC ANALYSIS
In terms of acquisition propensity, empirical findings seem to agree that family businesses are less likely to engage in M&A activity compared to non-family firms, mainly for their different growth preferences ( Regarding the analytical approach, the majority of the studies (86%) use a quantitative method, while only few studies employ a qualitative methodology, based on the analysis of single case studies (Mickelson & Worly, 2003). Finally, one paper is of conceptual nature (Lind & Lattuch, 2021).

AVENUES FOR FUTURE RESEARCH AND CONCLUDING REMARKS
This systematic review highlights several research lines that may be examined in the future to further contribute to the ongoing conversations on M&A in family firms. Specifically, three main research avenues may be identified.
First, while most literature has taken a comparative perspective that confronts family vs. non-family firms (Anderson & Reeb, 2003), an increasing interest is emerging on the heterogeneity of family firms (Schmid, Ampenberger, Kaserer, & Achleitner, 2015), as a number of contingency factors may drive the family's risk preferences. Second, with a huge volume of contributions being of quantitative nature, more qualitative research is needed to offer an in-depth analysis of soft aspects involved in acquisition decision-making and the acquisition process.
The role played by the involvement of family owners in the business seems particularly elusive: family owners tend to favor more conservative strategies to limit the risk of firm failure; however, family owners may also be willing to exploit entrepreneurial opportunities and embark on riskier projects to increase the firm's value and competitive advantage (Nguyen, 2011). Thus, future studies may explore the role played by family involvement in determining the firm's risk propensity. As the legal environment is an important factor affecting shareholders' protection and, consequently, both investment decisions and performance, more studies are needed on the role played by the legal system of the country (André et al., 2014).
Overall, this review offers some preliminary efforts in terms of systematizing our knowledge on M&A decisions in the specific context of family firms. Listed family firms have lower acquisition propensity than nonfamily firms because of family involvement in ownership and executive committees. Diversifying strategies are less pursued by family firms, and this is underpinned when family ownership increases. Family firms are better able to utilize acquired resources than nonfamily firms. Targets acquired during the recovery of a merger wave are more valuable to family firms and associated with more innovation.