Oh, the Places We’ll Go! Reviewing Past, Present, and Future Possibilities in Family Business Research

We are honored to present the inaugural review issue of Family Business Review (FBR). The above quote by Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) indicates a world where infinite possibilities exist for individuals. It was in this spirit that we embrace the great scholarly potential for research in family business. And we believe now marks a critical time for scholars hoping to make their mark in this promising area of intellectual curiosity. You might wonder why we believe now is a particularly promising time to conduct the first review issue of FBR. To understand this question, we would like to backup and take a brief look at the places this research stream has been. While there were only 111 peer-reviewed articles on family business before January 1, 1970, the pace of knowledge creation in this field accelerated in the 1990s yielding over 2,000 articles (Sharma, 2015). In the past 5 years between 2010 and 2014, over 4,000 family business articles were added to the knowledge pool. At this rate, the current decade will likely yield over 8,000 new peer-reviewed journal articles on family business. The increased interest in this field has also yielded returns in the quality of research output. Craig, Moores, Howorth, and Poutziouris (2009) observe that family business research is at a “tipping point” with an unprecedented acceptance in top-tier journals. With the rapid growth of research in family business across multiple disciplines and outlets, coupled with the growing interest from around the globe (Woolridge, 2015), the field needs a review issue dedicated to unifying the research trends and ideas, looking both historically and toward the future. As the premier journal in family firm research, FBR is uniquely positioned to take that role. While review articles have appeared intermittently over the years, FBR’s 25th anniversary issue published in March (2012) started us along the trajectory of a dedicated review issue to take stock of past research and determine interesting future possibilities for impactful research. This review issue includes five articles that critically examine 774 scholarly publications to identify the gaps between “what we know” and “what we need to know” concerning key topics and methods of interest to family business scholars. This particular collection of articles places us in the center of the family business research universe because of the breadth and relevance of topics reviewed. The need for increased rigor in research marks the development of a field. The article by Evert, Martin, McLeod, and Payne (2015) highlights the past and current status of empirics in family business research, pointing to future opportunities likely to help unveil the complex and unique dynamics, behaviors, and family enterprise performances both on economic and noneconomic dimensions. By comparing 319 empirical articles published in FBR from 1988 to 2014 with 146 family business research article in top-tier journals not dedicated to family business research over the same time frame, the authors substantiate growth in rigor and sophistication while highlighting challenges concerning 622294 FBRXXX10.1177/0894486515622294Family Business ReviewShort et al. editorial2015