Employee downsizing is a crucial choice that transcends the firm’s boundaries and has profound social implications. While the topic has been on researchers’ agenda for a long time, literature is still looking for a finer understanding of downsizing in family firms, which are the majority of employers worldwide. Using the Socio-Emotional Wealth perspective, this study explores the contingency effect of sales internationalization strategy on the relationship between family firm status and employee downsizing. Based on a large sample of private Spanish firms, our results reveal that the negative effect of family firm status on downsizing is mitigated at higher levels of export intensity, global focus and when export is done directly.

裁员是一项超越公司界限并具有深远社会影响的重要选择。虽然这个话题长期以来一直在研究人员的议程上，但文献仍在寻找对家族企业裁员的更好理解，家族企业是全球雇主的大多数。本研究运用社会情感财富视角，探讨了销售国际化战略对家族企业地位与员工裁员之间关系的权变效应。基于大量西班牙私营企业样本，我们的结果表明，家族企业地位对缩小规模的负面影响在出口强度更高、全球关注度更高以及直接进行出口时得到缓解。