Family versus Non-Family Firm Franchisors: Behavioral and Performance Differences

Drawing from resource-based theory, we argue that family firm franchisors behave and perform differently compared to non-family firm franchisors. Our theorizing suggests that compared to a non-family firm franchisor, a family firm franchisor cultivates stronger relationships with franchisees and provides them with more training. Yet, we predict that a family firm franchisor achieves lower performance than a non-family firm franchisor. We argue, however, that this performance relationship reverses itself when family firm franchisors are older and larger. We test our hypotheses with a longitudinal dataset including a matched-pair sample of private U.S. family and non-family firm franchisors.