Family Offices: Governing Transgenerational Wealth Across Organizational and Generational Boundaries

Family offices have become increasingly important organizational actors in the governance and deployment of private family wealth. Yet, despite growing scholarly attention, family office research remains fragmented across research traditions that build on different conceptualizations of family offices as wealth managers, governance mechanisms, investment vehicles, professional service organizations, or infrastructures of dynastic wealth. This definitional plurality has generated valuable insights, but it also inhibits cumulative theory building and empirical comparison. We synthesize existing theoretical and empirical evidence and propose a theoretical definition and a definitional taxonomy of family offices, thereby developing a conceptual baseline for family office research. We then develop an analytical framework that connects family goals and willingness, organizational forms, activities and ability, boundary mechanisms, and multidimensional outcomes. By positioning contemporary research within this framework, we identify priorities for cumulative scholarship and practical challenges in family office design and renewal.