Exploring what makes family firms different: Discrete or overlapping constructs in the literature?

•We carry out a literature review on three family business constructs.•The constructs are socioemotional wealth, essence of family business, familiness.•They capture the distinctiveness of family businesses.•We propose a conceptual model integrating the constructs.•We suggest future research directions.

The theory, research, and practice of family business have evolved significantly over the last quarter of a century. The field has experienced significant transformations; however, scholars are still debating what makes family businesses unique and distinct from nonfamily businesses. Three constructs have been proposed in the literature to address this issue: socioemotional wealth, the essence of family business, and familiness. Through a systematic review of the literature, we analyze these constructs by providing definitions, identifying antecedents, outcomes, and measurements, and by summarizing differences and similarities. We incorporate our key findings in a conceptual model to guide researchers in their future efforts.