Family firms, as insider-controlled companies, should be less likely to exhibit CEO turnover after poor performance and may thus promote enhanced focus on long-term goals. However, when a non-family CEO is in charge, the relatively limited empirical evidence is contrasting. Some studies find that only family CEOs are immune from the threat of dismissal following poor financial performance, while other studies show that family firms discipline their CEOs for poor financial performance regardless of their family status. In this work, we try to reconcile these contrasting findings and investigate what ownership and governance conditions influence the owners’ pressure on the CEO to achieve short-term financial results.
