Lorraine M. Uhlaner

Professional HRM Practices in Family Owned-Managed Enterprises*

This study examines determinants of professional human resource management (HRM) practices within a sample of approximately 700 small to medium‐sized firms. Predictions from the agency theory and the resource‐based view of organizations lead to alternate hypotheses regarding the direct and indirect negative effects of family ownership and management on the usage of professional HRM practices. Results support predictions for both direct and indirect effects. These indirect effects occur through intermediary variables that reflect organizational complexity, such as firm size, (the presence of a) formal business plan, and HRM specialization. The findings lend partial support to both theories.

Family business and corporate social responsibility in a sample of Dutch firms

This paper explores corporate social responsibility in family businesses. In particular, the research investigates family businesses in relation to a wide variety of constituent or stakeholder groups. It reports the preliminary results of focused interviews with 42 small and medium‐sized Dutch family businesses. The data obtained from content analysis suggest that a mix of corporate social responsibility perspectives, help to explain the nature of relationships with, and behaviors toward, various constituency groups. The family character of the business most frequently impacts employee, client, and supplier relationships. Statistically significant interaction effects are reported for the following moderator variables: generation of the owner; company tenure in the community; community size; company size; and inclusion of the family surname in the business name. Interaction effects were also tested for industry type and gender. The paper also outlines some practical implications of the findings and suggests directions for future research.

Culture's Role in Entrepreneurship: Self-Employment Out of Dissatisfaction

This research investigation addresses why somecountries have more entrepreneurs than others. To investigate determinants ofentrepreneurship, data points are included from several countries and differentperiods of time between 1974 and 1994. The bivariate relationship between levelof entrepreneurship and a number of economic factors, cultural traits, anddissatisfaction variables are examined. Regressions are conducted on time-series data using various economic anddissatisfaction variables as independent variables to predict level ofentrepreneurship in several country clusters. Past research is reviewed on thelevel of entrepreneurship at the aggregated societal level. Findings indicate that the factors determining level of entrepreneurship arecomplex, but the basic finding is that dissatisfaction with society and life ingeneral determines level of entrepreneurship in a country. Further, thecultures of relatively poor countries can be characterized by large powerdistance and low individualism and often by strong uncertainty avoidance, atleast in Western countries. This in conjunction with relatively highdissatisfaction with society and life give rise to a high incidence ofsmall-scale self-employment. When countries develop, dissatisfaction declinesand so do levels of entrepreneurship. In industrialized countries, informationtechnology and differentiation of markets create diseconomies of scale andinvite new, innovative entrepreneurship. At the same time, a high level ofsatisfaction with life in these societies may slow down the drive towardentrepreneurship. (JSD)

Trends in European Research on Entrepreneurship at the Turn of the Century

This article serves as an introduction to the special issue on Entrepreneurship Research in Europe, a selection of papers from the XIVth RENT conference held in Prague, the Czech Republic, November 23–24, 2000. It provides an overview of the articles and also discusses some of the themes that bind them together: Networking and the diffusion of innovations and family business. In addition, the paper includes a short section highlighting advances in the Italian entrepreneurship climate as evidenced by data provided by several of the papers in this issue carried out by Italian researchers on Italian SMEs.