Digitalization in Family Business: Trajectories and Trends

In recent years, research into digitalization in business and industry has resulted in momentous changes, the likes of which have not been seen for many decades. Consequently, scholars show a high interest in researching digital transition in business ventures, resulting in several systematic and bibliometric studies. However, despite the considerable increase in studies of digitalization and family business in recent years, the two research streams are yet to be comprehensively integrated. This bibliometric study addresses this gap by examining 92 documents from the Web of Science which focus on the digitalization of family firms, aiming to provide a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of this evolving field. In addition to classifying research trends on family firm digitalization, the study identifies research foundations through a citation network, using CitNetExplore, and current research streams and hot research topics over time through bibliographic coupling and keyword analyses, using CiteSpace. Through an evaluation of the field, the most and least important research themes are acknowledged via longitudinal analysis and thematic evaluation using SciMAT. Based on the outcomes, several future research directions are discussed.