Researchers have argued for the “family business effect” (i.e., the benefit of the connection between family and business systems) as a source of differentiation in the marketplace. However, most of that work lacks ecological validity and focuses on the family business as the sole provider of information about the family brand. This study explores how family business brands work in online environments and the impact that they have on online reputation. We test our ideas with a dataset of 12,310 businesses, amassing 331,256 reviews between 2006 and 2021. Our results provide support for the notion that family firm branding on online platforms is generally beneficial for businesses’ online reputation. However, contrary to our expectations, we also find that reviewer usage of family firm branding terms on their reviews has an attenuating effect on the relationship between family firm branding by the firm and their online reputation. Implications of these results are discussed.
