Shared vision between fathers and daughters in family businesses: the determining factor that transforms daughters into successors

Identities of the incumbent and the successor in the family business succession: Review and prospects

Introduction

The cognition and motivation of family business incumbents and the successors will directly influence succession behavior, yet they face identity challenges during succession due to the intersection of family and firm context, and their ability to overcome identity challenges will determine the success of the succession. However, as studies on their identity are fragmented and lack systematicity, there is a need to assess the relevant literature.

Methods

Drawing from social identity theory (SIT) and role identity theory (RIT), this article adopts a systematic literature review approach to analyze 99 SSCI-indexed articles to explore family business succession from an identity perspective.

Results

The article finds that the focus on the self-concept of the incumbent and the successor shifts from group identification to role identity perception and multi-roles, and succession behaviors are based on identity perception.

Discussion

This article summarizes a knowledge framework of the antecedents, connotations, and behavioral consequences of identity perception, revealing that family business succession from an identity perspective exhibits psychological and multidisciplinary characteristics, highlighting iterative and mutual features. Based on identity theories and succession research, this article proposes future directions from the research topics, research methods, and theoretical perspectives within the existing knowledge framework, such as cross-cultural and diachronic analysis, as well as from the theoretical perspectives of family, personality development, and pedagogy.

Identification positively affects the creativity of family business: The mediating role of family business support

With the arbitrariness of family business decision-making and the complexity of interests become increasingly prominent, the transformation and innovation of family business are imminent. Under the above background, via analysis of data from 259 valid questionnaires from more than ten family businesses in China as a sample and with the help of the SPSS and AMOS, this study explored the impacts of identification on creativity of the family business as well as the mediating role of family business support by constructing a mediating model. The results show that the employee’s identification has a positive impact on the creativity of the family business. Besides, identification has a positive impact on family business support and family business support has a partial mediating role between identification and family business creativity. Especially, the emotional support does not have a mediating role, whereas the instrumental support has a complete mediating role between identification and family business creativity.

Factors Affecting Women’s Intention to Lead Family Businesses in Mexico

The purpose of this study is to establish the prevalence of barriers to women’s leadership in the family business in terms of invisibility, the glass ceiling effect, and sexism. We conduct eight semi-structured interviews with women holding leading managerial roles in family businesses in Mexico to identify the factors that impede/facilitate their involvement. We apply the theory of planned behavior (TPB) in order to determine how these factors support/constrain women in their roles. We find that some factors and circumstances are critical for women to achieve an important leadership role in the family business. These factors entail levels of education and experience, the extent to which women participate in strategic decision making and governance of the firm, as well as the support of the company’s founder and other family members for these women’s efficacy and self-esteem. These results challenge some of the extant findings in the literature, thus enriching the current perspectives on the leadership role of women in family firms. Moreover, this research is the first attempt to analyze impediments to women under the TPB perspective as well as one of the few studies conducted on the topic in Latin America, specifically in Mexico.

Unraveling the Role of Shared Vision and Trust in Constructive Conflict Management of Family Firms. An Empirical Study From a Mixed Methods Approach

Family firms are a unique setting to study constructive conflict management due to the influence of family ties of the owning family imprinting a sense of common purpose and shared destiny, and high levels of trust. We study the relationship between shared vision and trust that intervene in the adoption of constructive conflict management. To achieve our purpose, we carried out a systematic indirect observation using a mixed methods approach. We used the narratives of 17 semi-structured interviews, audio-recorded and transcribed, of family and non-family managers or directors from five Spanish family firms in the siblings' partnership stage, combined with documentary data obtained from different sources. Intra- and inter-observer reliability were confirmed. Results show a dynamic relationship between shared vision and specific components of trust (benevolence and ability) at different levels of conflict management. We also provide evidence of specific processes of concurrence-seeking and open-mindedness in family and ownership forums accounting for the relevance of family governance in these type of organizations. Family firms are a sum of several subsystems which exhibit a particular resources configuration. This study sheds light on constructive conflict management in family firms opening interesting avenues for further research and offering practical implications to managers, owners, and advisors.

Mental Health in Family Businesses and Business Families: A Systematic Review

Mental health issues in family businesses and business families have been studied in multiple disciplines within the past three decades. This article systematically reviews 51 articles on mental health issues in family businesses and business families, published in a wide variety of psychology, entrepreneurship, and management journals. Based on a systematic review of extant literature, this article first provides an overview of the state of the art, followed by specific suggestions on novel research questions, theoretical frameworks and study design. This way, the review systematizes evidence on known antecedents and consequences of mental health issues in family businesses and business families, but also reveals overlooked and undertheorized drivers and outcomes. The review reveals major gaps in our knowledge that hinder a valid understanding of mental health in the specific context of family businesses and business families, and articulates specific research questions that could be tackled by future research among management as well as mental health scholars. Finally, we point to the relevance of this study for policy makers, family business advisors, therapists and managers.

The role of the positive emotional attractor in vision and shared vision: toward effective leadership, relationships, and engagement

Personal and shared vision have a long history in management and organizational practices yet only recently have we begun to build a systematic body of empirical knowledge about the role of personal and shared vision in organizations. As the introductory paper for this special topic in Frontiers in Psychology, we present a theoretical argument as to the existence and critical role of two states in which a person, dyad, team, or organization may find themselves when engaging in the creation of a personal or shared vision: the positive emotional attractor (PEA) and the negative emotional attractor (NEA). These two primary states are strange attractors, each characterized by three dimensions: (1) positive versus negative emotional arousal; (2) endocrine arousal of the parasympathetic nervous system versus sympathetic nervous system; and (3) neurological activation of the default mode network versus the task positive network. We argue that arousing the PEA is critical when creating or affirming a personal vision (i.e., sense of one's purpose and ideal self). We begin our paper by reviewing the underpinnings of our PEA-NEA theory, briefly review each of the papers in this special issue, and conclude by discussing the practical implications of the theory.