IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jomstd/v63y2026i6p2509-2577.html

The Mixed Gamble of Competitive Dynamics in Family‐Controlled Firms

Author

Listed:
  • Jaeyoung Cho
  • Alfredo De Massis
  • Josip Kotlar

Abstract

We extend the mixed gamble perspective to explain how family‐controlled firms frame and evaluate the difficult trade‐off between potential gains and losses in financial wealth (FW) and socioemotional wealth (SEW) when pursuing portfolio‐level strategic initiatives, as captured by competitive aggressiveness and complexity. Analyzing 570 public‐listed Korean firms from 1998 to 2017, we find that family‐controlled firms tend to avoid competitive aggressiveness and complexity in their strategic action portfolios. However, our broader perspective leads us to identify critical boundary conditions: this reluctance weakens when firms fall below historical and social performance aspiration levels, as the risks to FW and SEW become more apparent. Conversely, their reluctance strengthens when they retain many family business group affiliations that provide safeguards for FW and SEW.

Suggested Citation

  • Jaeyoung Cho & Alfredo De Massis & Josip Kotlar, 2026. "The Mixed Gamble of Competitive Dynamics in Family‐Controlled Firms," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(6), pages 2509-2577, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:63:y:2026:i:6:p:2509-2577
    DOI: 10.1111/joms.13218
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.13218
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/joms.13218?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:63:y:2026:i:6:p:2509-2577. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0022-2380 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.