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This article provides commentary from well-known family business researchers on what they have learnt about the family business field and tips for the future.

Well-known family business management researchers were contacted in order to provide their feedback on the field of family business management. Their responses were then curated into an article that can help others learn from their advice.

The family business management researchers provided suggestions on how to succeed in the field of family business management and advice for current and future researchers. Thereby helping to advance the field and provide new novel research ideas that can help science as well as practice.

This article is amongst the first to provide verbatim advice from the leading family business management scholars. Thus, providing original and innovative ideas about what is needed in the field of family business management.

The purpose of this study is to explore the intersection of mindfulness practices and ethical decision-making within organisational leadership. Drawing from ancient Buddhist principles and contemporary neuroscience, this study aims to illuminate how mindfulness can enhance cognitive and emotional regulation, thereby fostering ethical behaviour and improved decision-making among leaders and employees. By examining the theoretical and practical implications of mindfulness in the context of organisational behaviour, this research seeks to contribute to the development of more compassionate, ethical and effective leadership practices, ultimately promoting a more mindful and sustainable business environment.

This concept paper explores the integration of mindfulness meditation practices with decision-making, particularly its influence on ethical choices, through a comparative study of modern techniques and the ancient teachings of the Tripitaka. Using a methodology that spans literature review in organisational behaviour and leadership, alongside in-depth analysis of the Tripitaka and contributions from scholars like Bhikkhu Bodhi, the paper examines the potential of mindfulness in enhancing ethical decision-making. It incorporates a range of sources, including peer-reviewed journals and seminal books across various disciplines, to underscore the transformative potential of mindfulness in addressing contemporary challenges and guiding leadership practices.

This discussion explores how mindfulness, rooted in ancient Buddhist philosophy and aligned with modern neuroscience, can significantly enhance managerial decision-making by fostering a balance between cognitive and emotional factors. It delves into the transformative potential of mindfulness in refining thought processes, promoting ethical decision-making and mitigating cognitive biases. By bridging traditional wisdom with contemporary scientific insights, the analysis underscores mindfulness as an active, dynamic process crucial for personal growth and effective leadership in complex environments.

One limitation of this research is its reliance on theoretical frameworks and literature reviews, which may not capture the full range of practical challenges in implementing mindfulness practices within organisations. Additionally, the diversity in mindfulness methodologies and the subjective nature of mindfulness experiences may affect the generalisability of the findings. Future research should include empirical studies to validate the proposed benefits of mindfulness in organisational settings and explore the most effective strategies for integrating mindfulness practices into leadership and decision-making processes. This would help in understanding how mindfulness can be tailored to suit different organisational cultures and individual preferences.

The practical implications of applying mindfulness in organisational settings include enhanced decision-making abilities, improved leadership effectiveness and increased employee well-being. Mindfulness training can equip leaders and employees with the skills to manage stress, navigate complex ethical decisions and maintain focus amidst distractions, leading to more thoughtful and responsible business practices. Organisations might see a reduction in conflict, enhanced creativity and better teamwork, contributing to a more harmonious and productive workplace. Implementing mindfulness programmes could also support talent retention and attraction by promoting a workplace culture that values mental health and ethical behaviour.

The social implications of integrating mindfulness into organisational decision-making and leadership, as suggested by the document, include promoting ethical behaviour, enhancing emotional regulation and improving team dynamics. Mindfulness practices can lead to more informed and conscious decision-making, reducing cognitive biases and fostering a culture of ethical awareness within organisations. This shift towards mindful leadership could potentially transform organisational cultures, encouraging greater compassion, ethical responsibility and collective well-being, thereby contributing positively to broader societal values and norms.

The originality and value of this research lie in its novel integration of mindfulness concepts derived from ancient Buddhist teachings with contemporary neuroscience and organisational behaviour studies. By exploring the deep-rooted philosophical underpinnings of mindfulness and their applicability to modern ethical decision-making and leadership practices, this work offers a unique perspective that bridges historical wisdom with current scientific understanding. It provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the transformative potential of mindfulness in organisational settings, highlighting its capacity to foster ethical leadership, enhance decision-making processes and contribute to a more mindful, compassionate and sustainable business environment.

This study aims to propose and examine a research model where work engagement mediates the impacts of high-involvement work practices (HIWPs) on bank employees' turnover intentions. Specifically, the paper assesses: (a) the effects of empowerment, information sharing, rewards and training on work engagement and turnover intention, (b) work engagement as a mediator of the effects of these HIWPs on turnover intention (c) and functional competence as a moderator of the effects of these HIWPs on work engagement.

An online survey was employed to gather data from 343 employees working in commercial banks in Bangladesh. The authors applied partial least squares structural equation modeling to assess the aforesaid linkages.

Empowerment and information sharing increase bank employees' work engagement, while training and rewards reduce their proclivity to leave. Work engagement partly mediates the relationships of empowerment and information sharing to turnover intention. Functional competence moderates the relationship between three HIWPs (empowerment, information sharing and rewards) on work engagement.

The paper examines the association between HIWPs and turnover intention, which has been subjected to little empirical inquiry among bank employees during a crisis (e.g. Covid-19 pandemic). The paper provides new insights into the underlying mechanism linking HIWPs and turnover intention and highlights the moderating effect of functional competence. Additionally, the study offers new knowledge on the impact of the pandemic on bank employees' HIWPs. Finally, this paper used data gathered from bank employees in Bangladesh, which is an underrepresented Asian country in the extant service research.

This paper aims to examine the effect of high-involvement work systems (HIWSs) on completing work and avoiding distraction as two dimensions of presenteeism. It also investigates competence as a mediator of the effect of HIWS on presenteeism.

Data were collected from 343 Bangladeshi bank employees using an online survey. The partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was employed to assess the abovementioned linkages.

The findings demonstrate HIWS directly avoid distraction but do not significantly impact the completing work dimension of presenteeism. The findings also indicate that competence mediates the effect of HIWS on completing work but not on avoiding distraction.

Drawing on the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, this study empirically demonstrates the contrasting role of HIWS in completing work and avoiding distraction related to presenteeism. It also provides a novel perspective on the unexplored mediating mechanism of competence on the relationship between HIWS and presenteeism and offers new directions for HIWS and presenteeism research.

This paper aims to examine the impact of changes in human capital development and evolution of tacit knowledge following transgenerational succession in ethnic companies. The paper contributes to the understanding of transferring tacit knowledge across generations in ensuring ethnic business sustainability.

In answering the how question, this paper tracked the changes and their impact in the process over time, using the multiple-case study method. A total of six interviews were conducted with three Indian-owned companies in the jewellery industry in Malaysia, with each interview lasting between 45 and 60 min. Secondary data were collected to supplement the primary data for analysis. Data triangulation method was applied to strengthen the design of this study.

The results indicate that changes in human capital development and tacit knowledge have enabled ethnically Indian-owned jewellery-based companies to alter their products to respond to demands of modern society whilst sustaining and commodifying the ethnic identity of their businesses. The findings also highlight that proper succession planning by ageing entrepreneurs may promote sustainability of these ethnic enterprises.

Despite the growing attention on ethnic and migrant entrepreneurship, less is known about the impact of the changes through transgenerational succession over time in ethnic businesses, especially when such changes involve human capital as the key players. This study is important in addressing the gap, in identifying human capital development and tacit knowledge among the critical ethnic resources contributing to ethnic business sustainability. Using a conceptual framework, this paper sheds some light on how ethnic businesses are sustained through transgenerational succession.

Entrepreneurship has been one of the major pillars in our economy around the world. Aside from the aspiring and innovative entrepreneurs looking for like-minded collaborators to start new ventures that disrupt the business world, managers are increasingly looking for entrepreneurial graduates to tackle the ever-changing business landscape. There has been increasing consensus that entrepreneurship is not limited to being an attitude or a certain characteristic that one is born with, but a skill that can be developed through education. This can be seen in the sprung of entrepreneurship programs in various educational institutions, as well as dedicated entrepreneurship degrees in higher education. However, the information that each person is receiving can vary depending on their environment, and how they perceive and process the information can also be different. In addition, propensity to take actions to pursue the identified opportunities can also vary. Thus, how can the governments and universities work together in breeding the next generation of entrepreneurs? To answer our research question, we sampled 191 undergraduate students in a private university in Malaysia. We examined the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, and entrepreneurial intention. Our findings contribute to future research with a more refined understanding of the factors affecting entrepreneurial intention, as well as practical implications for governments and higher education institutions on how they form an ecosystem in equipping future generations with entrepreneurialism.

Based on the resource orchestration perspective, this paper aims to examine whether family firms are more efficient in their collaboration for innovation process than non-family firms, considering different types of collaboration for innovation depending on the kind of partner.

This study empirically develops and tests the hypotheses based on a panel data sample of 14,937 firm-year observations from 1,867 Spanish manufacturing firms over the period 2007–2014, performing a Propensity Score Matching (Propensity score matching)-based analysis.

Results reveal that family firms outperform non-family firms, despite less collaboration and innovation inputs, thereby extending the ongoing debate surrounding the innovation efficiency of family firms. Family firms obtained better results through vertical collaborations for innovation, both in terms of product and process innovations. For horizontal collaborations, family firms only outperform their non-family counterparts in process innovation. When collaborating with universities and other research centers, there are no significant differences in the innovation outcomes between the two groups.

Recent literature points out that more research is needed to know when, how and under what circumstances family firms show superior innovative efficiency. This work empirically proves that family firms outperform non-family firms in collaboration for innovation. However, not all collaboration partners help family firms to reach this superior innovative efficiency. Family firms obtained better results just through vertical and horizontal collaborations.

This paper provides empirical evidence for how gender diversity in top management teams (TMTs) and collaboration with university and technological centres lead to innovation outcomes. The authors review past research on these concepts and illustrate their individual and joint effects on process innovation specifically in the unique context of family firms (FFs).

The authors used a sample of 788 Spanish manufacturing family firms in 2016 and applied logistic regression models since the dependent variables are dummies.

The authors found a positive relationship between gender-diverse TMTs, process innovation and research and development (R&D)-based process innovation. Similarly, the collaboration with university technological centres is positively associated with higher innovation outcome of FFs. In addition, the authors also found that the presence of women in TMTs shapes the relationship between the collaboration with university technological centres and process innovation.

This paper contributes to the research on collaborative innovation in FFs by emphasizing the collaboration with university technological centres, an external partner often ignored by this stream of literature. This research also responds to the calls for further study of the effect of the heterogeneity of the TMTs on the innovation outcome of FFs, from the perspective of the resource-based view (RBV) of the firms.

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between heterogeneous collaborative networks and firm performance, using the resource-based view (RBV) and its extension through the knowledge-based view (KBV) as theoretical lens. Moreover, the authors examine family management and intellectual property rights (IPRs) as contingent factors that enhance the effectiveness of heterogeneous collaborative networks in achieving superior firm performance.

The hypotheses are developed and checked by using a panel data sample of 10,985 firm-year observations from 1,766 Spanish manufacturing firms over the period 2007–2016.

The results indicate that heterogeneous collaborative networks positively influence firm performance. Furthermore, the positive impact of these innovation networks on firm performance is reinforced by high levels of family management, and such effect is even stronger when there exists high levels of IPRs.

This research is the first, to our knowledge, to provide important new insights into the manner in which the effect of both family management and IPRs have the potential to amplify the performance gains attained from heterogenous collaborative networks.

This paper aims to examine the influence of family involvement in TMTs on product innovation efficiency and the contingent role of technological collaborations, combining insights from the resource-based view and the behavioral agency model.

This study empirically develops and tests the hypotheses using a longitudinal sample of 3,852 firm-year observations from Spanish manufacturing firms over the period 2006–2016.

The results reveal that family involvement in TMTs positively influences product innovation efficiency. The results also show that such positive effect is weakened as technological collaborations increase, and varies according to the partner type with whom the cooperation agreement is established. Specifically, the findings indicate that collaboration with suppliers appear to be the least detrimental for product innovation efficiency in family firms, followed by collaborations with customers and research organizations.

Family firms should consider appointing family members to their TMT to improve product innovation efficiency. Moreover, to enhance the effect of family management on product innovation efficiency, family managers should carefully select their technological partners.

This study is one of the first studies to theoretically explain and empirically demonstrate that family involvement in TMTs is a critical antecedent of product innovation efficiency and that technological collaborations moderate such link. Moreover, this study goes further in revealing that distinct types of partners have a differential moderating influence on the family involvement in TMTs-product innovation efficiency relationship. The results can be used to help managers and practitioners to boost innovation performance as well as to assist policymakers to design firm-level innovation policies to improve family firms' competitiveness.