Counterfactual Indeterminacy Bias in Family Firm Research
指出家族企业异质性来源若与非家族企业相似，会导致反事实不确定性偏差，使研究结果无法区分家族影响与普遍因素，并给出预防建议。
Ever since scholars recognized that family firms are heterogeneous, many studies have attempted to compare different types of family firms without ensuring that the source of heterogeneity is unique to family firms. When the source of heterogeneity among family firms resembles the source of heterogeneity among nonfamily firms, the problem of counterfactual indeterminacy bias can lead to misleading or irrelevant findings that fail to distinguish the effects of family influence from factors that affect all firms. We delineate common forms of this bias and offer recommendations to prevent it in research on family firm behavior and performance.