Internal Communication and Family Business: A perspective article

Purpose
Family businesses require internal communication to guide and provide direction, and the unique nature of involving both family and non-family employees add complexity. Navigating this complexity helps to ensure effective direction and management of family businesses. This paper explores the existing research concerning internal communication within family businesses and discusses the lenses and contexts through which it is commonly studied.

Design/methodology/approach
This paper provides a concise literature review to identify the most common lenses through which internal communication in family business has been researched.

Findings
Internal communication in family enterprises is mostly studied through the lenses of internal communication between family generations, internal communication and the influence on family identity, and internal communication in times of crises. Existing research is largely focused on the role of family in internal communication, and limited consideration is given to the role of non-family members and family members outside of the business.

Originality/value
The paper synthesises the direction and findings of existing research into internal communication within family business and provides avenues for future research. Managerial implications are also presented based on the synthesis of existing literature.