This study explores the downsizing propensity of family and non-family firms by considering their territorial embeddedness during both periods of economic stability and financial crisis. By drawing on a panel dataset of Spanish manufacturing firms for the period 2002–2015, we show that, all things being equal, family firms have a lower propensity to downsizing than non-family firms. When considering the effect of territorial embeddedness, we found that territorially embedded family firms have an even lower propensity to downsizing than their non-family counterparts. Furthermore, the concern of territorially embedded family firms for their employees’ welfare was particularly pronounced during the years of the global financial crisis. This result is explained by the existence of socially proximate relationships with the firms’ immediate surroundings, based on similarity and a sense of belonging, which push deeply rooted family firms to treat their employees as salient stakeholders during hard times. Overall, our study stresses the importance of local roots in moderating the relationship between family firms and downsizing.

本研究通过考虑家族企业和非家族企业在经济稳定和金融危机时期的地域嵌入性，探讨了家族企业和非家族企业的裁员倾向。通过利用 2002 年至 2015 年期间西班牙制造企业的面板数据集，我们表明，在所有条件相同的情况下，家族企业的裁员倾向低于非家族企业。在考虑地域嵌入的影响时，我们发现地域嵌入的家族企业比非家族企业更倾向于缩减规模。此外，在全球金融危机期间，本土家族企业对员工福利的关注尤为突出。这一结果可以通过与公司直接环境的社会直接关系的存在来解释，基于相似性和归属感，这促使根深蒂固的家族企业在困难时期将员工视为重要的利益相关者。总体而言，我们的研究强调了本地根源在调节家族企业与缩小规模之间的关系方面的重要性。