Corporate Governance and Family-Owned Businesses: A Systematic Review

The paper aims to synthesize evidence obtained from studies published during 1999 to 2022 concerning corporate governance in family-owned businesses. It attempts to expound the imminent research gaps in the literature related to the constructs of corporate governance in family-owned businesses. A systematic review of literature was conducted with biblioshiny in context of corporate governance in family-owned companies from papers published in English language and indexed in Scopus from Jan 1999- July 2022 in business, management, finance, accounting and corporate governance related journals. Results reveal that literature is lopsided referring to family ownership and firm performance with extremely limited evidence on corporate governance in family-owned businesses and a few of its key constructs; hence, there is a need to foster empirical research in this context. Further, the literature is almost silent in the context of promoters’ remuneration; formation of committees, institutional investors, IPOs and stock returns; mergers and acquisitions & related party transactions in family-owned companies. This study provides insights on prominent research gaps in the domain of corporate governance and key constructs referred above along with board composition, choice of auditor and CSR spending in family-owned companies. In view of the scant literature and inconclusive evidence reported in the domain of corporate governance in family-owned businesses, especially in India, USA and UK, this review presents a distinct framework of research for corporate governance in family-owned businesses, highlighting the key constructs therein. Further, literature on family ownership was found mainly in countries like Malaysia and Lebanon with a few studies which addressed agency problems in family-owned businesses and or reflecting the state of corporate governance in such businesses.