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

摘要

The development of a transgenerational orientation is one of the mostudsignificant challenges that family businesses face and only a small number actuallyudsurvive across generations. While prior research has focused on the business unit toudprovide us with a solid understanding of how corporate governance affects businessudperformance and continuity, the role of the business family in the development of audtransgenerational orientation has received less attention. To address this gap, thisudarticle applies a new systems and social identity theory framework to examine howudfamily governance and business family identity can contribute to strengthening theudtransgenerational orientation of the business. A transgenerational orientation isuddefined as a decision premise to maintain the family's control over the businessudacross generations. Using a large data set, findings show that the presence of familyudgovernance measures and the business family's identity are positively related to audtransgenerational orientation of the business, with business family identity acting asuda mediator. Thus, the development of family governance measures can fosterudcommunication within the business family and enhance the family members' udemotional investment in the business which strengthens the transgenerational orientationudin the business. (author's abstract)