Abstract
This study extends research on family firms’ heterogeneity by exploring the role of CEO identity – i.e., family vs nonfamily CEO – in relation to the way external stakeholders talk about the brand of the family firm s/he leads – i.e., brand importance. Drawing on text mining and social network analysis techniques, and considering the brand prevalence, diversity, and connectivity dimensions, we use the Semantic Brand Score to measure the importance that external stakeholders give to family firm brands. The analysis of a sample of 63 Italian family firms reveals a negative relation between family CEOs and brand importance, and a positive moderating effect of firm longevity. This study advances literature by providing an alternative perspective on how CEO identity influences external stakeholders’ perception of family firms’ brand.