Family legacy orientation (FLO) and Family firm legacy orientation (FFLO) are novel and compelling constructs for the field of family business. In the paper, the authors introduce these constructs and offer implications for strategic decision making in the firm. They also note that, while FLO and FFLO could have a substantial impact on the field of family business, the constructs must be measured. We concur, because while more theorizing is necessary, part of this theorizing should include the development of observable and measurable phenomena for the construct in question (Schwab, 1980). In addition, by engaging in the steps to gauge construct clarity and validity, important considerations, concerns, and value will certainly come to light.

Scholars have argued that informality is driven by the degree to which it is expensive or difficult to operate in the formal economy. In contrast, we argue that firms choose to be informal or formal partly driven by industry conditions. We examine informal firms that are not registered with a governmental authority. Based on a large data set of Brazilian businesses, we find that firm informality is positively associated with dynamism, yet negatively associated with munificence and concentration. Our findings suggest that informality is a decision driven by both cost of registering and risk reduction for entrepreneurs depending on industry conditions.

Family firm scholars often reference the legacy concerns or intentions of families when explaining strategic decision making in family firms. Yet, the concept of family legacy is not clearly defined or delineated in the literature. As such, we define and explore the family legacy construct from the integrated perspectives of psychosocial development and sense–making literatures. We identify three forms of family legacy: biological, material, and social. Further, we present the family and family firm legacy orientations as unique constructs, offering a theoretical model that proposes the linkages from these distinct orientations to strategic decision making and behavioral outcomes in family firms.