Building bridges between gender and family business literature to advance women's empowerment

Abstract

This study underlines the importance of addressing gender issues in family firms. It reinvigorates research in this field by revealing its current state, identifying research gaps, and suggesting future agendas. A bibliometric approach using a co-word analysis of 376 papers from the Web of Science database and their 885 keywords was performed to reveal the thematic structure of gender and family firm research, research topics, associations among them, and their evolution over the last 30 years (1991–2021). This review provides an extensive literature base and suggests research topics that facilitate the adoption of a gendered lens in family firm literature and business practice. This review demonstrates how gender issues are intertwined with management, leadership, and family business approaches. Our observations inform scholars, policymakers, and practitioners on the need to integrate gender issues into organizational culture and to connect empowerment strategies with the sociocultural environment. This study shows the need to address women’s empowerment in business, considering different sociocultural contexts in addition to a Western focus. It also calls for embracing gender and feminist perspectives in research.