How Can Responsible Family Ownership be Sustained Across Generations? A Family Social Capital Approach

Abstract

Responsible family ownership (RFO) is a combination of the family’s commitment to the family-firm’s (FF’s) stakeholders in the long term and the explicit behaviour of the family members associated with the firm. However, families are not individuals but rather a system of relationships among family members. In such a context, misunderstandings in communication, anachronistic mentalities and different value systems can block the intergenerational transmission of RFO. Consequently, the responsibility of the family towards the FF’s stakeholders may be damaged and the firm’s socially responsible behaviour hindered. This paper aims to identify how RFO is transferred across generations and to ascertain the role that family social capital (FSC) plays in preserving the transmission of RFO from generation to generation. Our research is based on three in-depth case studies of Mexican family-owned small- and medium-sized enterprises. First, the paper identifies and contrasts a set of FSC-specific factors and problems which play a relevant role in the transmission of RFO while recognizing the influence of the mutually reinforcing dynamics of FSC dimensions. Secondly, the family’s honourableness (Aβländer in J Bus Ethics 116(4):751–767, 2013 ) is identified as a key driver for sustaining the transmission of RFO. Finally, the paper identifies RFO institutionalization required to face the intrinsic problems of transmitting RFO in growing families.

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