Josip Kotlar conducts interdisciplinary research at the intersection of strategy, innovation, family business and governance.

His main research contributions relate to understanding how family business owners and leaders balance financial and non-financial goals in strategic decision-making, and how family owners can drive business transformation and innovation to build long-term success.

Current projects address the development of ownership competencies in multi-generational enterprising families, the distinctive role of family legacy in value creation and capture processes, and emerging forms of family and family business business governance.

Fang, C., Kotlar, J., & Chrisman, J. J. (2025). Family Control and Sustainable Competitive Advantage. Family Business Review, in press.

Cho, J., De Massis, A., & Kotlar, J. (2025). The Mixed Gamble of Competitive Dynamics in Family‐Controlled Firms. Journal of Management Studies, in press.

Chrisman, J. J., Wu, Z., De Massis, A., Sharma, P., Steier, L. P., Kellermanns, F. W., & Fang, H. C. (2025). A Tribute to the Life and Work of Jess Chua. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, in press.

Garcés-Galdeano, L., Kotlar, J., Caicedo-Leitón, A. L., Larraza-Kintana, M., & Frattini, F. (2024). Absorptive capacity in family firms: exploring the role of the CEO. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 30(6), 1349-1371.

Vardaman, J. M., McLarty, B. D., Memili, E., Kotlar, J., & Liguori, E. (2024). The power of people in family firms. Journal of Small Business Management, 1-14.

Capella, F., Manelli, L., Frattini, F., Kotlar, J., & Chiesa, V. (2024). Navigating the politics of innovation in family firms: The role of political capital. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 41(3), 548-573.

Magistretti, S., Dell’Era, C., Cautela, C., & Kotlar, J. (2023). Design Thinking for Organizational Innovation at PepsiCo. California Management Review, 65(3), 5-23.

Manelli, L., Magrelli, V., Kotlar, J., Messeni Petruzzelli, A., & Frattini, F. (2023). Building an Outward-Oriented Social Family Legacy: Rhetorical History in Family Business Foundations. Family Business Review, 36(1), 143-168.

Mazzelli, A., Miller, D., Breton-Miller, L., De Massis, A., & Kotlar, J. (2023). Outcome-based imitation in family firms’ international market entry decisions. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 47(4), 1059-1092.

Brigham, K. H., Serrano, C. C., Kammerlander, N., & Kotlar, J. (2022). Accumulating Knowledge Over Time: Introduction to the Fourth FBR Review Issue. Family Business Review, 35(1), 6-14.

Ge, B., De Massis, A., & Kotlar, J. (2022). Mining the past: History scripting strategies and competitive advantage in a family business. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 46(1), 223-251.

Magrelli, V., Rondi, E., De Massis, A., & Kotlar, J. (2022). Generational brokerage: An intersubjective perspective on managing temporal orientations in family firm succession. Strategic Organization, 20(1), 164-199.

De Massis, A., Kotlar, J., & Manelli, L. (2021). Family firms, family boundary organizations, and the family-related organizational ecosystem. Family Business Review, 34(4), 350-364.

Raitis, J., Sasaki, I., & Kotlar, J. (2021). System‐spanning values work and entrepreneurial growth in family firms. Journal of Management Studies, 58(1), 104-134.

Astrachan, C. B., Astrachan, J. H., Kotlar, J., & Michiels, A. (2021). Addressing the theory-practice divide in family business research: The case of shareholder agreements. Journal of Family Business Strategy, 12(1), 100395.

Scholes, L., Hughes, M., Wright, M., De Massis, A., & Kotlar, J. (2021). Family management and family guardianship: Governance effects on family firm innovation strategy. Journal of Family Business Strategy, 12(4), 100389.

Kotlar, J., De Massis, A., Frattini, F., & Kammerlander, N. (2020). Motivation gaps and implementation traps: The paradoxical and time‐varying effects of family ownership on firm absorptive capacity. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 37(1), 2-25.

Sasaki, I., Kotlar, J., Ravasi, D., & Vaara, E. (2020). Dealing with revered past: Historical identity statements and strategic change in Japanese family firms. Strategic Management Journal, 41(3), 590-623.

Chirico, F., Criaco, G., Baù, M., Naldi, L., Gomez-Mejia, L. R., & Kotlar, J. (2020). To patent or not to patent: That is the question. Intellectual property protection in family firms. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 44(2), 339-367.

Casprini, E., Dabic, M., Kotlar, J., & Pucci, T. (2020). A bibliometric analysis of family firm internationalization research: Current themes, theoretical roots, and ways forward. International Business Review, 29(5), 1-18.

Kotlar, J., Sieger, P. (2019). Bounded rationality and bounded reliability: A study of non-family managers’ entrepreneurial behavior in family firms. Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, 43(2), 251-273.

Mazzelli, A., Nason, R. S., De Massis, A., & Kotlar, J. (2019). Causality Rules: Performance Feedback on Hierarchically Related Goals and Capital Investment Variability. Journal of Management Studies, 56(8), 1630-1654.

Kotlar, J., & Chrisman, J. J. (2019). Point: How family involvement influences organizational change. Journal of Change Management, 19(1), 26-36.

Arzubiaga U., Kotlar, J., De Massis A., Maseda A., Iturralde T. (2018). Entrepreneurial orientation and innovation in family SMEs: Unveiling the (actual) impact of the Board of Directors. Journal of Business Venturing, 33(4), 455-469.

Rondi, E.., De Massis, A., Kotlar, J. (2019). Unlocking innovation potential: A typology of family business innovation postures and the critical role of the family system. Journal of Family Business Strategy, 10(4), 1-13.

Kotlar, J., Signori, A., De Massis, A., & Vismara, S. (2018). Financial wealth, socioemotional wealth, and IPO underpricing in family firms: A two-stage gamble model. Academy of Management Journal, 61(3), 1073-1099.

De Massis, A., Kotlar, J., Mazzola, P., Minola, T., & Sciascia, S. (2018). Conflicting selves: Family owners' multiple goals and self-control agency problems in private firms. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 42(3), 362-389.

Mazzelli, A., Kotlar, J., & De Massis, A. (2018). Blending in while standing out: Selective conformity and new product introduction in family firms. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 42(2), 206-230.

Fang, H., Kotlar, J., Memili, E., Chrisman, J. J., & De Massis, A. (2018). The pursuit of international opportunities in family firms: Generational differences and the role of knowledge‐based resources. Global Strategy Journal, 8(1), 136-157.

Kotlar, J., De Massis, A., Wright, M., & Frattini, F. (2018). Organizational goals: Antecedents, formation processes, and implications for firm behavior and performance. International Journal of Management Reviews, 20(S1), 3-18.

Kull, T. J., Kotlar, J., & Spring, M. (2018). Small and medium enterprise research in supply chain management: The case for single‐respondent research designs. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 54(1), 23-34.

De Massis, A., Kotlar, J., Wright, M., & Kellermanns, F. (2018). Sector-based entrepreneurial capabilities and the promise of sector studies in entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 42(1), 3-23.