Positive and negative views of family firms and their performance abound. Although there have been explanations for this divergence based on conditions of governance and context, the institutional environment has been less thoroughly explored as a source of these differences. We argue that the blend of family and market institutional logics in the regional communities where firms operate can have an important impact on the governance arrangements and financial performance of family firms. Specifically, we find that family-intensive governance is more common where family logic predominates in a region, and does best when this logic remains at modest levels or is countered by market logic. We test and support these notions in a comprehensive sample of private family firms in Italy, an ideal context in which distinct historically-determined logics exists among its 20 regions. •Positive and negative views of family firms are conditioned by the institutional context within a community.•Community level logics can shape stewardship and behavioral agency behavior in family firms.•Dominant family logics may invoke a family intensive model of governance whereby poor leadership compromises performance.•Better performance with family governance occurs under a balance between family and market logics.