DOI: 10.36347/sjebm.2015.v02i07.015

Pages: 761-767

Long-term orientation is often regarded as the rational why family firms could gain superior performance. However, there is very little empirical evidence. This article examined whether and when Chinese family firms were more long-term oriented than non-family firms, combining socioemotional wealth theory and performance feedback perspectives. Analysis on the samples from Chinese Private Enterprise Survey provided support for family firms’ longterm orientation and when the more performance exceeded from historical aspiration, the better family firms performed in the long-term investments than non-family firms. While social performance aspiration has no significant moderating effect, indicating self historical aspiration is a key reference point in family firm decision making.