Now showing 1 - 10 of 15
  • 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
    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.
  • Publication
    Linking Family Firm Image to Performance: How Family Firms build Trust to foster Success
    ( 2010-04-16) ;
    Kellermanns, Franz W.
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    Eddleston, Kimberley H.
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    Memili, Esra
    Recently it has been demonstrated that developing a family-based brand identity positively contributes to firm growth through its influence on customer-centered values (Craig, Dibrell & Davis, 2008). Focusing on branding activities, Craig and colleagues (2008) examined the influence of promoting a business as a "family business" to stakeholders like customers, suppliers and financiers. Family businesses that build a family firm image in the marketplace capitalize on customers' positive perception of family firms as trustworthy (Taguiri & Davis, 1996; Ward & Arnonoff, 1995), customer-focused and quality driven (Sundaramurthy & Kreiner, 2008). Therefore, being known as a "family firm" may be a positive attribute in the minds of stakeholders that contributes to performance. Drawing from organizational identity theory, we argue that a family firm image capitalizes on a family firm's ability to garner trust and respect in the marketplace. We define family firm image as the intentional projection of a family business identity to external audiences. While research suggests that family members' concern for their firm's image (Anderson & Reeb, 2003) and brand identity (Craig et al., 2008) influence success, the processes through which a family firm emphasizes its family firm image and how that impacts firm performance is not understood. Such an investigation is important since family firms are often assumed to be concerned with their image (Dyer & Whetten, 2006; Steier, 2001) and to be favorably viewed by consumers (Craig et al., 2008; Sundaramurthy & Kreiner, 2008), yet no known study has examined the antecedents and consequences of a family firm image.
  • Publication
    The Effect of Reputation on Entrepreneurial Behavior in Family Firms : A Resource Perspective
    (Babson College, 2010-06-09)
    Clinton, Eric
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    Nason, Robert S.
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    Throughout the development of the field, family business scholars have sought to identify the sources of distinctiveness for family firms. One promising stream in this arena has been familiness (Habbershon & Williams, 1999), which applies resource based view to the family context. Familiness contends that the idiosyncratic family influence on firm level resources explains the competitive advantages or disadvantages of family firms. Despite its conceptual power, there has been great difficulty in operationalizing familiness into a functional research construct. Pearson et al (2008) make a strong movement to clarify and focus the concept in this direction using a social capital perspective as does Sharma (2008) with a broader discussion of family influenced resource pools. Still, there have been few empirical articles on familiness despite Habbershon and Williams (1999) call that "it is the conditions and antecedents of distinctive familiness that researchers ultimately need to clarify" (1999:13). Our article serves to meet this gap in the literature through the first in depth exploration of the distinctive properties and consequences of a single resource, reputation.
  • Publication
    Internal Corporate Venturing in multi-generational Family Businesses
    ( 2010-03-24)
    Garrett, Robert
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    Dibrell, Clay
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    Craig, Justin
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  • Publication
    Corporate Entrepreneurship and Image in Family Firms
    (Academy of Management, 2009-08-11)
    Memili, Esra
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    Eddleston, Kimberley H.
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    Kellermanns, Franz W.
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    Barnett, Tim
    The impact of family ownership and family expectations on corporate entrepreneurship and family firm image has been underresearched. Drawing on corporate entrepreneurship and organizational identity theories, we develop a model linking family ownership and expectations, corporate entrepreneurship, and image in family firms. We also suggest that corporate entrepreneurship and image can lead to growth in family firms. We test the model on a sample of 163 Swiss family firms. Our most important findings are that family expectations have direct influence on both corporate entrepreneurship and image and that both corporate entrepreneurship and image are associated with growth in family firms.
  • Publication
    Family Portfolio Entrepreneurship
    (Babson College, 2009-06-01) ;
    Nason, Robert S.
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    Nordqvist, Mattias
    This paper seeks to extend our understanding of the growing field of Portfolio Entrepreneurship, the simultaneous ownership and engagement in several business activities (Westhead & Wright 1998; Carter & Ram 2003). Portfolio entrepreneurship has been identified as an important factor in both new venture creation and the economic landscape in general (Rosa & Scott 1996; 1999). We follow Carter and Ram's (2003) call to explore portfolio entrepreneurship within the family context. Specifically we address the why (cause) and how (process) of family portfolio entrepreneurship through comparative qualitative cases.
  • Publication
    Why do firms strive for non-financial performance
    (Northeastern University, 2009-06-07) ;
    Nason, Robert S.
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    Nordqvist, M.
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    Brush, Candida
    This paper develops a social identity based rationale for why firms strive for non-pecuniary performance outcomes. It extends current social and financial rationales for such motivations. Drawing from social identity and organizational reputation theories, we show that identity overlaps between managers and organizations create incentives to protect and build corporate reputation. These incentives motivate managers to produce non-pecuniary performance outcomes that satisfy stakeholders. We argue that emotional bonds of managers to their organizations create identity overlaps. Further, the incentives to build and protect corporate reputation is moderated by the type of the manager's commitment. We use the family business, a particularly high identity overlap organization, as a context to explore our arguments. Propositions and future directions are included.
  • Publication
    Corporate entrepreneurship in family firms: a stewardship perspective
    ( 2008-01-10)
    Eddleston, Kimberley H.
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    Kellermanns, Franz W.
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