Social capital (SC) is deeply embedded in the dynamics of family firms—the world’s most prevalent business form—shaping interactions within the family, across the organization, and with external stakeholders. Despite growing scholarly interest, research on SC in family firms remains fragmented, often examining its dimensions in isolation or within narrowly defined contexts. This study offers a comprehensive and integrative perspective on SC as a multidimensional and ambivalent resource in family firms, highlighting both its strategic benefits and its potential constraints. Drawing on a bibliometric–systematic literature review of 222 articles published in leading journals, we identify four thematic domains: (1) social and business networks, (2) governance and succession, (3) innovation and knowledge management, and (4) family SC. Across these domains, SC operates through the interplay of structural, relational, and cognitive dimensions, as well as through bonding and bridging mechanisms that connect internal cohesion with external openness. The review reveals key theoretical tensions, including the tradition–innovation paradox and the “dark sides” of SC, such as overembeddedness, groupthink, and strategic rigidity. Building on these insights, we develop a structured research agenda with short-, medium-, and long-term priorities. These priorities emphasize the need for dynamic and multilevel models of SC, deeper theoretical integration with socioemotional wealth and dynamic capabilities, and comparative research across cultural and institutional contexts. By consolidating dispersed knowledge and theorizing from emergent patterns in the literature, this review advances theory and offers practical guidance for leveraging SC in family firms.
Kashif et al. (Thu,) studied this question.