Who Prefers Working in a Family Firm? An Exploratory Study of Individuals’ Organizational Preferences Across 40 Countries

Abstract

Employees can work in family firms or non-family firms. Yet, little is known on the determinants of this particular occupational choice decision. Using a sample of more than 15,000 individuals in 40 countries, we empirically explore individual preferences to work in family firms. Our results show that socio-demographic, occupation-related, and entrepreneurship-related variables influence the preference to work in family firms. For example, a preference to work in family firms correlates positively with being female, labor market experience, being retired, opinion on entrepreneurs, and self-employment intention, while it correlates negatively with length of full-time education, living in an urban area, and household income.

Keywords: Family firms, individual preferences, cross-country study, organizational preference

JEL Classification: M12, M16