scholarly journals Best Among the Worst or Worst Among the Best? Socioemotional Wealth and Risk-Performance Returns for Family and Non-Family Firms Under Financial Distress

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis R. Gomez-Mejia ◽  
Francesco Chirico ◽  
Geoffrey Martin ◽  
Massimo Baù
2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (8) ◽  
pp. 1342-1379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Chirico ◽  
Luis R. Gómez-Mejia ◽  
Karin Hellerstedt ◽  
Michael Withers ◽  
Mattias Nordqvist

We take the perspective that considering the affective motives of dominant owners is essential to understanding business exit. Drawing on a refinement of behavioral agency theory, we argue that family-controlled firms are less likely than non-family-controlled firms to exit and tend to endure increased financial distress to avoid losses to the family’s socioemotional wealth (SEW) embodied in the firm. Yet, when confronted with different exit options and when performance heuristics suggest that exit is unavoidable, family firms are more likely to exit via merger, which we argue saves some SEW, although it is less satisfactory financially. In contrast, nonfamily firms are more likely to exit via sale or dissolution, options that are more prone to offer higher financial returns than mergers. Family and nonfamily firms thus show different orders of exit options. We find support for these arguments in a longitudinal matched sample of privately held firms.


2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thilo J. Pukall ◽  
Andrea Calabrò

This article systematically reviews and critically examines 72 journal articles published (from 1980 to 2012) on the internationalization of family firms. Stemming from existing literature, core aspects and main gaps are identified. We aim to overcome the inconclusiveness of findings of previous research by offering an integrative theoretical model integrating the concept of socioemotional wealth with the revised Uppsala model. Our framework helps understand behaviors of internationalizing family firms by focusing on when and how they internationalize, especially related to risk attitudes, the role of knowledge and networks. Ultimately, we provide future research themes flowing from our suggested model.


2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (02) ◽  
pp. 207-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariateresa Torchia ◽  
Marita Rautiainen ◽  
Andrea Calabrò ◽  
Tuuli Ikäheimonen ◽  
Timo Pihkala ◽  
...  

By focusing on family owners’ perceptions and dynamics the aim of this paper is to understand the specific goals associated to their ownership status and whether and to what extend they impact on family firms’ growth and continuity. We use survey data on Finnish family firms and identify a set of differentiated family owners’ goals. Our findings contribute to the debate on differentiating socioemotional wealth by untangling the existence of variations in family principals’ goal setting and the importance to also consider that financial motives could determine family owners’ goals.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 13114
Author(s):  
Joohee Han ◽  
Juil Lee ◽  
Sang-Joon Kim

The purpose of this study was to examine how family involvement affects the environmental innovation of firms. While prior studies have shown that family involvement can enhance environmental performance, these environmental performances have been portrayed as firm activities to prevent environmental issues, such as air pollution, CO2 emissions, etc. We maintain that environmental performance should be more proactive and enable firms to transform their activities more fundamentally towards environmental protection. In this sense, we consider environmental innovation, i.e., technological development to address environmental issues, as a proactive measure enacting firm activities to address environmental issues. Furthermore, we determine whether and how family involvement can motivate firms to develop technologies for environmental performance. To illuminate this relation, we utilized a socioemotional wealth perspective, which provides useful insights into how family-controlled firms behave differently in comparison to non-family firms. Building on this socioemotional wealth approach, we suggest that family involvement helps firms engage in environmental innovation. In this study, we also explore how the positive link between family involvement and environmental innovation is dependent on family interlocks—the circumstance wherein a firm’s family directors are affiliated with the boards of directors of other firms. Specifically, we suggest that an increase in a firm’s family interlocks would strengthen the positive relationship between family involvement and environmental innovation. To test our ideas, we used a sample of 623 US public firms ranging from 1996 to 2010, which yielded 5047 firm-year observations. We find that family involvement facilitates the environmental innovation of firms. We also find that family interlocks intensify the positive effect of family involvement on environmental innovation. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and empirical implications of our results.


2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 374-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federica Pazzaglia ◽  
Stefano Mengoli ◽  
Elena Sapienza

We develop a socioemotional wealth explanation for the differences in earnings quality between family firms. We argue that the process by which families obtain ownership of firms is a key contingency affecting earnings quality. Specifically, firms acquired by families through market transactions display lower earnings quality due to lower identification of family owners relative to firms still owned by the families that created them. Acquired family firms benefit with respect to their earnings quality from having a nonfamily CEO while nonacquired family firms benefit from having a family CEO.


2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 322-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanna Campopiano ◽  
Emanuela Rondi

We extend McLarty, Vardaman, and Barnett’s analysis of how family firm supervisor attributes, in terms of familial status and socioemotional wealth importance, affect supervisee performance by considering the supervisee attributes. We further integrate the concept of restricted and generalized social exchange to provide a theoretical basis for how hierarchical dyadic (in)congruence moderates the relationship between supervisee commitment and performance. By providing a more fine-grained conceptualization, we contribute to the family business literature at its organization behavior interface.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan David Peláez-León ◽  
Gregorio Sánchez-Marín

PurposeThis study analyses whether human resource management (HRM), through the use of four sets of high-performance work policies (HPWPs) (i.e. selection, training, motivation and opportunity policies), mediates the relationship between socioemotional wealth (SEW)—defined as a unique set of nonfinancial family goals—and firm financial performance when family firms face a high-risk context.Design/methodology/approachHypotheses were statistically tested using a structural equation modeling (SEM) methodology with a cross-sectional sample of 196 medium-sized and private family firms in a high-risk context in Spain.FindingsThe results indicate that the relationship between SEW and financial performance in family firms is fully mediated by the use of HPWPs, especially by training and motivation HR policies. The importance given to preserving SEW influences the use of four sets of HPWPs when family firms show clear evidence of being confronted by a financial decline (i.e. a high-risk context). However, to improve their financial results to avoid the firm's failure and thus the loss of their SEW, only those HR policies that focus on training and motivation made a significant and positive contribution to the firm financial performance.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature on family firms and HRM by adopting an alternative theoretical framework to understand how the importance of nonfinancial family goals may affect employee structures and management policies, thereby improving financial performance in family firms.


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