Portuguese researcher Liliana Dinis has been awarded the 2025 Best Dissertation Award by the Family Firm Institute (FFI), the world’s leading organization dedicated to the study of family enterprises. This marks the first time the award has been granted to a Portuguese researcher, recognizing the excellence of her dissertation titled “Of Ghosts and Strangers in Family Firms: The Founder’s Shadow in the Organization’s Daily Life.”
The awarded thesis introduces the concept of the “founder’s shadow” — the perception that the founder remains present in the organizational life even after stepping down. The research unfolds across three studies: the first, a qualitative study involving 25 family firms, reveals how this shadow is sustained not only by family members but also by employees, across generations. The second and third studies, based on data from 1,244 participants, validate a scale to measure this phenomenon and assess its influence on organizational attitudes and behaviors.
Liliana Dinis is a researcher at Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics and holds a PhD in Organizational Studies from Nova School of Business and Economics, where she was awarded an honorable mention for her exceptional work. Her research focuses on the internal dynamics of family businesses, exploring themes such as the relationship between legacy and innovation, the emotional dimensions of organizational behavior, and the strategic use of historical narratives within family firms.
Before completing her PhD, she earned a Master’s in Applied Management from CATÓLICA-LISBON. Over the course of her academic career, she has received three Best Paper Awards at international family business research conferences.
According to Liliana Dinis, “It is a great honor to receive the Best Dissertation Award from the Family Firm Institute, the most prestigious international recognition for research in family business. This award, more than a personal milestone, reflects the growing contribution of research conducted in Portugal in the field of family business. It is the first time this award comes to our country, and I hope it encourages us to further develop the potential of Portuguese academia in this domain.”
The award was the result of multiple rounds of judging by an international panel of experts from FFI and was formally announced in the June edition of the FFI on Friday newsletter.