Conflict Management in Family Businesses: A Bibliometric Analysis and Systematic Literature Review

Purpose: Conflict management is a cross-disciplinary and well established field of study and has investigated conflict in several domains, from large corporations to States, from the individual/personal domain to the organizational environment. Design/methodology/approach: Family conflicts and the work-family balance issues also received a large attention, yet studies in conflict management seem still to miss a thorough investigation of conflict in family businesses. Conflict is a major aspect of family businesses, which differ highly from nonfamily businesses, and offers an important research avenue for conflict management scholar to contribute to the investigation of a major characteristics of organizations that constitute a large part of the value created in the world. Findings: Family conflicts and the work-family balance issues also received a large attention, yet studies in conflict management seem still to miss a thorough investigation of conflict in family businesses. Conflict is a major aspect of family businesses, which differ highly from nonfamily businesses, and offers an important research avenue for conflict management scholar to contribute to the investigation of a major characteristics of organizations that constitute a large part of the value created in the world. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the fields of conflict management and family business by providing a systematic analysis of knowledge and family firms. This paper can be a starting point for researchers interested in understanding how conflicts affect family businesses. Moreover, it could be a starting point for future research on this field.