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Understanding the transgenerational orientation of family businesses: the role of family governance and business family identity

The development of a transgenerational orientation is one of the most
significant challenges that family businesses face and only a small number actually
survive across generations. While prior research has focused on the business unit to
provide us with a solid understanding of how corporate governance affects business
performance and continuity, the role of the business family in the development of a
transgenerational orientation has received less attention. To address this gap, this
article applies a new systems and social identity theory framework to examine how
family governance and business family identity can contribute to strengthening the
transgenerational orientation of the business. A transgenerational orientation is
defined as a decision premise to maintain the family's control over the business
across generations. Using a large data set, findings show that the presence of family
governance measures and the business family's identity are positively related to a
transgenerational orientation of the business, with business family identity acting as
a mediator. Thus, the development of family governance measures can foster
communication within the business family and enhance the family members'
emotional investment in the business which strengthens the transgenerational orientation
in the business. (author's abstract)

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:VIENNA/oai:epub.wu-wien.ac.at:5174
Date08 1900
CreatorsSĂĽss-Reyes, Julia
PublisherSpringer Verlag
Source SetsWirtschaftsuniversität Wien
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeArticle, PeerReviewed
Formatapplication/pdf
RightsCreative Commons: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Relationhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11573-016-0835-3, http://link.springer.com/, http://epub.wu.ac.at/5174/

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