Do Spanish Family SMEs Make Appropriate Use of Their Organizational Websites?: An Analysis of Family Firms' Brand Promotion and Website Quality Level

Introduction

In recent decades, the continuous renewal of digital media, such as organizational websites or social networks, as well as the emergence of new information and communication technologies, have completely revolutionized the business world (Alves et al., 2020; Gruner & Power, 2018). Furthermore, family firms represent a form of organisation that has been attracting significant attention from scholars and practitioners in global markets (De Massis et al., 2018). This increased interest is not surprising given that family firms, defined as those businesses ‘dominantly controlled by a family with the vision to potentially sustain family control across generations’ (Zellweger, 2017, p. 22), have become the backbone of the majority of the world’s economies by generating around 70–90% of annual global GDP and creating approximately 50–80% of employment in most countries worldwide (Casado-Belmonte et al., 2021; IEF & Red de Cátedras de Empresa Familiar, 2018; Martínez-Alonso et al., 2020a).

Extant literature on this theme points to the rise of digital media as one of the possible factors that has enabled family firms to gain considerable momentum within the business sphere (Zanon et al., 2019). The application of digital media has contributed to making work more efficient and easier, improving the image and reputation of family firms, as well as increasing their firm profitability (Gallucci et al., 2015; Sageder et al., 2018). Nevertheless, the incorporation of these digital media in the context of family firms has also provoked heated debates among family firm owners and managers (e.g., Barroso-Martínez et al., 2019). On the one hand, some family firm owners and managers consider that digital media allows them to establish differentiation strategies and even reach broader markets (Binz Astrachan & Botero, 2018). On the other hand, certain family firm owners and managers question the utility of these digital media for their organizations, as they believe that instead of ensuring control of the firm and guaranteeing its subsistence, digital media might bring negative consequences for the business family (Treem Jeffrey & Leonardi, 2012).

In order to shed new light on this debate, this chapter aims to conduct a descriptive analysis of the use and dissemination of information through organizational websites by family firms. To do so, this study focuses on examining the promotion of family firm brand and website quality level. First, the promotion of family firm brand, conceived as the action through which a family firm promotes its family status as part of its communication strategy (Binz Astrachan & Astrachan, 2015), is an emerging issue on which empirical work is still lacking (Botero et al., 2013; Leonardi & Vaast, 2017). Therefore, in an attempt to deepen in the promotion of family firm brand, this chapter will examine the following indicators in family SMEs’ organizational websites (Barroso-Martínez et al., 2019): being a family firm, ownership level, presence of family members in top management teams, family history, generation in control, and family name as part of the firm name. Second, website quality level is also a topic of growing debate, as having a website with a certain degree of quality could be very beneficial to offer a better image to the market and the competition (Krappe et al., 2011; Sageder et al., 2018). In this regard, and to get further insights on the website quality level of the analysed firms, this chapter will assess such quality through four areas (Cober et al., 2004): content, form, functionality, and connectivity to social networks.