What Should Scholars Study About Family Offices? A Practitioner-Informed Research Agenda

This study engages directly with family office professionals to develop a practitioner-informed research agenda. Using an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design, we conduct 27 semi-structured interviews followed by a survey of 331 respondents. Practitioners identify that the most important areas to research are the benefits of strong governance, how succession planning should be implemented within the family office, and how to engage the next generation. Building on these insights, we develop a research agenda across three primary dimensions and identify nine gaps to inspire future research, offering both theoretical directions for scholars while maintaining practical relevance for family office professionals.