Now showing 1 - 10 of 31
  • Publication
    The Determinants of Family Owner Manager's Affective Organizational Commitment
    (Wiley-Blackwell, 2013-07)
    Memili, Esra
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    Fang, Hanqing Chevy
    Affective organizational commitment is an important predictor of the willingness to contribute to organizational goals and is of particular relevance to family firms, as these firms often rely on long-term involvement of family members through transgenerational succession. Drawing on organizational commitment and ownership attachment theories, we probe the influence of family firm dynamics (i.e. family harmony and relationship conflict) on work-family conflict and family owner-managers' ownership attachment, which in turn impact affective organizational commitment. Based on a study of 326 family firms, we introduce ownership attachment as an important antecedent to affective organizational commitment. We find that ownership attachment is positively affected by both family harmony and work-family conflict, whereby work-family conflict is influenced by relationship conflict. We also find that work-family conflict affects ownership attachment.
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    Scopus© Citations 37
  • Publication
    Exploring the entrepreneurial Behavior of Family Firms: Does the Stewardship Perspective explain Differences?
    (Wiley, 2012-03-01)
    Eddleston, Kimberley H.
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    Kellermanns, Franz W.
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    Drawing from stewardship theory we investigate corporate entrepreneurship in family firms. We argue that stewardship culture determinants - comprehensive strategic decision-making, participative governance, long-term orientation and human capital -differentiate the most entrepreneurial family firms. Based on a study of 179 family firms, we show that comprehensive strategic decision-making and long-term orientation contribute to corporate entrepreneurship. Additionally, family-to-firm unity enhances the positive effects participative governance and long-term orientation have on corporate entrepreneurship. While we found that family-to-firm unity can compensate for low human capital, unexpectedly, we also found that family-to-firm unity can dampen the positive relationship between human capital and corporate entrepreneurship
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    Scopus© Citations 226
  • Publication
    Building a Family Firm Image: : How Family Firms capitalize on their Family Ties
    (Elsevier, 2012-12) ;
    Kellermanns, Franz W.
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    Eddleston, Kimberley H.
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    Memili, Esra
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    Scopus© Citations 175
  • Publication
    From Longevity of Firms to transgenerational Entrepreneurship of Families : Introducing Family Entrepreneurial Orientation
    (Sage, 2012-06) ;
    Nason, Robert S.
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    Nordqvist, M.
    While existing research on the longevity of family firms has focused on the survival of firms, this article investigates transgenerational entrepreneurship of families. By building on the transgenerational entrepreneurship research framework, we argue that by shifting from firm to family level of analysis, we gain a deeper understanding of family firms' ability to create value across generations. We find evidence for our argument in that such a level shift reveals extended entrepreneurial activity which is missed when focusing exclusively on the firm level. We introduce and empirically explore the construct of family entrepreneurial orientation (FEO) which may serve as an antecedent to transgenerational value creation by families.
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    Scopus© Citations 367
  • Publication
    Entrepreneurial Orientation in long-lived Family Firms
    (Springer Science, 2012-01) ;
    We apply a key construct from the entrepreneurship field, entrepreneurial orientation (EO), in the context of long-lived family firms. Our qualitative in-depth case studies show that a permanently high level of the five EO dimensions is not a necessary condition for long-term success, as traditional entrepreneurship and EO literature implicitly suggest. Rather, we claim that the level of EO is dynamically adapted over time and that the original EO scales (autonomy, innovativeness, risk taking, proactiveness, and competitive aggressiveness) do not sufficiently capture the full extent of entrepreneurial behaviors in long-lived family firms. Based on these considerations we suggest extending the existing EO scales to provide a more fine-grained depiction of firm-level corporate entrepreneurship in long-lived family firms
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    Scopus© Citations 282
  • Publication
    Portfolio Entrepreneurship in Family Firms: A Resource-based Perspective
    (Wiley, 2011-12-01) ; ;
    Nason, Robert
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    Clinton, Eric
    The phenomenon of portfolio entrepreneurship has attracted considerable scholarly attention and is particularly relevant in the family firm context. However, there is a lack of knowledge of the process through which portfolio entrepreneurship develops in family firms. We address this gap by analyzing four in-depth, longitudinal family firm case studies from Europe and Latin America. Using a resource-based perspective, we identify six distinct resource categories that are relevant to the portfolio entrepreneurship process. Furthermore, we reveal that their importance varies across time. Our resulting resource-based process model of portfolio entrepreneurship in family firms makes valuable contributions to both theory and practice
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    Scopus© Citations 132
  • Publication
    The Critical Path to Family Firm Success through Entrepreneurial Risk Taking and Image
    (Elsevier, 2010-12)
    Memili, Esra
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    Eddleston, Kimberley H.
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    Kellermanns, Franz W.
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    Barnett, Tim
    Drawing from organizational identity theory, we explore how family ownership and family expectations influence family firm image and entrepreneurial risk taking, and ultimately firm performance. We find support for a fully-mediated model, utilizing a sample of 163 Swiss family firms. Family ownership was shown to positively influence the development of a family firm image. High family expectations of the firm leader was shown to promote a family firm image and risk taking. In turn, risk taking and family firm image contributed to firm performance. Accordingly, our study identifies why family ownership and family expectations can benefit family firm performance - through their influence on family firm image and entrepreneurial risk taking.
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    Scopus© Citations 124
  • Publication
    Exploring the Concept of Familiness : Introducing Family Firm Identity
    (Elsevier, 2010-03) ;
    Eddleston, Kimberley H.
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    Kellermanns, Franz W.
    Our paper contributes to the overarching question: "How does the family contribute to firm success?" We add to the nomological net of the familiness construct, by reaching beyond the components of involvement and the essence approach and by introducing organizational identity as a third dimension of familiness. As such, we investigate which families are most likely to build familiness. Specifically, the organizational identity dimension of familiness reflects how the family defines and views the firm, which can facilitate performance advantages through leveraging familiness both internally and externally. Lastly, we discuss how the combinations of components of involvement, essence and identity dimensions of familiness interact and explain why and how some families are a key resource to their firms while others add little value to their organizations.
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    Scopus© Citations 500
  • Publication
    Selling what you love : Divestiture activity in family-controlled firms
    (Academy of Management, 2013-08-09) ;
    Based on agency theory, prior studies in divestiture literature argued and found that blockholder ownership functions as a catalyst of divestiture activity. This reasoning, however, assumes that all types of blockholders are primarily interested in utilizing their power to optimize the economic benefits of their ownership stakes. Drawing on socioemotional wealth perspective, the present study challenges this assumption for the case of family block ownership. As a baseline, we propose that family block ownership decreases the likelihood of divestiture occurrence since divestitures pose severe threats to family owners’ socioemotional benefits. Further, we analyze under which conditions financial wealth considerations outweigh socioemotional wealth considerations. Counter to our theoretical prediction, our empirical findings indicate that financial performance is not a sufficiently strong contingency factor which helps overcome the greater reluctance of family-controlled firms to engage in divestiture. Instead, our results suggest that to offset this greater reluctance financial wealth concerns need to pair with institutional legitimacy concerns in order to increase the likelihood of divestiture by family-controlled firms. Our study thus extends agency theory and contributes to both family and divestiture literatures.
  • Publication
    The Link Between Family Firm Dynamics, Image and Firm Performance
    (SMS Strategic Management Society, 2011-11-06)
    Memili, Esra
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    Kellermanns, Franz W.
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    Eddleston, Kimberley H.
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    In this study, we draw upon organizational identity theory to examine factors that lead to the creation of family firm image and investigate how a family firm image impacts firm performance. We find that family firm pride, community social ties, and long-term orientation are positively associated with the likelihood that a firm portrays itself as a family business to consumers and stakeholders. In turn, we find that a family firm image benefits firm performance. Thus, our study demonstrates that by building a family firm image the unique family influences on the firm can be leveraged to create a competitive advantage for family firms.