The role of women as entrepreneurs in family business: a literature review

Taking into account previous contributions (Sharma, 2004; Sharma et al., 2005; Martinez-Jimenez, 2009), the current work aims to reach a better understanding of the state of the art in research exploring the role of women in family businesses to identify future research directions. The chapter is based on the framework proposed by Martinez-Jimenez (2009). It pursues the aim of updating that 2009 article and identifying changes and trends in the literature that have occurred in recent years. The updated literature review on the role of women in family firms will allow the authors to identify relevant current issues and to propose future research directions. The topics were then articulated according to categories proposed by Martinez Jimenez (2009): obstacles (women’s invisibility, glass ceiling, emotional leadership, succession and primogeniture) and opportunities (professional career and running a company). Based on the critical analysis of previous literature, a research framework is proposed, on the role of women in family firms, main drivers, and obstacles. Both situations of ‘women-entrepreneurs’, who have established their own company, and "women-managers", who run a family business, are considered. To critically compare different articles, a list of relevant topics, concerning drivers for and obstacles to women’s involvement in family business, as well as their leadership styles and impacts on the firm (strategy, organization, ‘managerialization’, and performance), was developed. Each quadrant/variable of our research framework represents a specific research stream that can be tackled using different theories and methods. This can also be used to give a clearer picture of family businesses and relations inside them to family business owners, managers, consultants, and policy makers interested in the topic “women in family business” and it can influence the national and international scientific community.