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Escalation of commitment in private family businesses: The influence of outside board members

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  • Woods, Jeremy A.
  • Dalziel, Thomas
  • Barton, Sidney L.

Abstract

Owner–managers of private family businesses are vulnerable to escalation of commitment, which can lead to costly failure. In an effort to help private family businesses reduce such costs and contribute to the resource dependence literature, we extend prior research on escalation of commitment (Staw, 1981). Specifically, we develop a model that examines how outside board members influence the antecedents, and moderate the processes, that lead to escalation of commitment. Our work encourages the use of outside board members, insofar as they are likely to help the owner–managers of private family businesses to avoid escalation of commitment.

Suggested Citation

  • Woods, Jeremy A. & Dalziel, Thomas & Barton, Sidney L., 2012. "Escalation of commitment in private family businesses: The influence of outside board members," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 18-27.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:fambus:v:3:y:2012:i:1:p:18-27
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jfbs.2012.01.002
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    2. Pongelli, Claudia & Majocchi, Antonio & Bauweraerts, Jonathan & Sciascia, Salvatore & Caroli, Matteo & Verbeke, Alain, 2023. "The impact of board of directors’ characteristics on the internationalization of family SMEs," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 58(2).
    3. Meier, Olivier & Schier, Guillaume, 2014. "Family firm succession: Lessons from failures in external party takeovers," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 372-383.
    4. Yonatan Shertzer & Yael Brender-Ilan, 2023. "Why Do Leaders Escalate Their Commitment to a Failed Course of Action? A Moderated-Mediation Personality Traits Model," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(1), pages 21582440231, February.
    5. Pérez-López, M. Carmen & Gómez-Miranda, M. Elena & Argente-Linares, Eva & López-Sánchez, Lina, 2018. "The internationalisation of Spanish family firms through business groups: Factors affecting the profitability, and the moderating effect of the family nature of the Spanish business," Revista de Contabilidad - Spanish Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 82-90.
    6. Dawn R. DeTienne & Francesco Chirico, 2013. "Exit Strategies in Family Firms: How Socioemotional Wealth Drives the Threshold of Performance," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 37(6), pages 1297-1318, November.
    7. Barrédy, Céline, 2023. "The paradox between monitoring and entrenchment in a two-tier family business: The contribution of the external commitment theory," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 155(PB).

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