Introducing the Family: A Review of Family Science with Implications for Management Research

While families have a large and undeniable impact on human behavior, management research is yet to fully embrace how aspects of families (e.g., family-member relationships, family structures, and family events) influence entrepreneurs, employees, managers, and their organizations. There is a large body of research known as family science that draws from sociology, psychology, and education and offers theories that describe families and explains important family outcomes. Management researchers have not widely exploited knowledge from family science, but it could be applied to advance management theories by answering questions about how families impact organizations and the people in them. Therefore, we review seven family science theories and leverage our review to map research agendas for how management researchers might use each theory to advance understanding of how families influence organizations and vice versa. Our review suggests a wide range of research topics in management that could advance by drawing upon family science research.