Family Firm Valuation by Family FIRM CEOs: The Role of Socioemotional Value

Based on the contentions of prospect theory that ownership endows possessions with a value premium, this study provides evidence that socioemotional value in family firms influences the monetary value attached to the firm by family owners. Ability to measure socioemotional value is a critical step toward establishing that it has a direct instead of an imputed link to family firm behavior. The results from two different samples of family firm owner-CEOs show that the socioemotional values for their firms increase with their desires for transgenerational sustainability, a distinctive socioemotional attribute of family firm ownership.